Mark Cavendish to begin final Tour de France campaign

Manx Missile on quest to achieve all-time stage win record

Mark Cavendish's quest to become the greatest Tour de France stage winner of all time gets underway today (1 July).

The 'Manx Missile' is competing for Astana Qazaqstan at this year's prestigious race currently tied for the most stage wins at the tour on 34 with cycling great, Eddie Merckx.

This year is expected to be the last chance 38-year-old Cavendish will have to reach an unprecedented tally of 35 stage wins after he announced last month he intends to retire from the sport at the end of the season.

Stage one takes place today from 12.15pm local time with a 182km route starting and finishing in Bilbao, Spain with the first two routes over this weekend (1-2 July) providing mountainous terrain.

Cavendish's first true shot at stage success this year could be stage three on Monday (3 July) with largely flat 187km route from Amorebieta to Bayonne.