The men who were previously one and two in the Tour de France’s all time stage wins list have welcomed Mark Cavendish onto 28 wins, putting him level with Bernard Hinault and six behind Eddy Merckx.

"I'm not bothered that Mark has passed me in the record book, records are made to be broken," Hinault told French television.

"In the last two years we perhaps forgot about Mark because he won a little bit less but in truth he was still a good sprinter. Now he's back at his very best. He's deserved all his 28 wins. His sprint was magnifique, as was his first win in Utah Beach on stage one. Considering his age Mark has plenty of chances to beat even Eddy, who is only six wins ahead of us."

What makes Cavendish’s tally so special was that he won 28 road stages. Merckx wopuld have won just 17 and Hinault only 7 if time trials did not exist or count towards the tally.

"There's no point in making comparisons, I won stages because I needed them to win the Tour. It was very different," Eddy Merckx argued when contacted by Gazzetta dello Sport to speak on Cav.

"It's difficult to say who is the best ever sprinter because there have been a lot of strong ones, including people like Mario Cipollini."

However, Merckx was very confident Cavendish will win at least one more stage at the race this season, thanks to his track prep.

"I think he's back to his best thanks to his track training for the Rio Olympics. The track gives you speed, vision and timing. He's started a run of results now and there's no reason why it can't continue."