Mark Cavendish moved to within one win of Eddy Merckx’s all-time record with yet another victory at the Tour de France on Tuesday afternoon.

The Manx Missile sprinted to his third win of this year’s Tour after a superb lead-out by his Deceuninck-QuickStep team-mates.

A two-man breakaway was reeled in with approximately 30 kilometres remaining of the 190.7km stage from Albertville toValence, before QuickStep increased the pace at the front which caused echelons in the peloton.

The Manxman was then expertly delivered to final 500 metres by his team and duly put the hammer down to pull clear and complete his hat-trick of victories at this year’s edition in style.

The win increased his lead in the points classification and ensured he is now only one victory away from equalling the legendary Eddy Merckx’s long-standing record of 34 wins.

Full story in this week’s Manx Independent, om sale Thursday morning.