Mark Cavendish clinched his second victory of this year’s Tour de France on Thursday afternoon to move even closer to Eddy Merckx’s all-time record.

The Manx Missile once again timed his sprint to perfection at the end of stage six from Tours to Châteauroux, the venue of his first Le Tour win back in 2008 and again in 2011.

The 36-year-old Deceuninck-QuickStep star was delivered safely to the finish by his team-mates before jumping onto the lead-out train of sprint rival Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Fenix).

And in typical fashion, the former UCI World Road Race champion surged to the line and comfortably sealed yet another victory on the greatest stage in professional cycling.

In doing so, Cav moved onto 32 stage wins overall at the Tour de France, now only two behind Merckx’s record which has stood for more than 45 years.

More reaction in next week’s Isle of Man Examiner, on sale Tuesday morning.