Geraint Thomas has backed Mark Cavendish to secure the stage victory he needs at this summer’s Tour de France to surpass Eddy Merckx as the outright record holder.

Cavendish begins his final tour level with the great Belgian on 34 stage wins having postponed his retirement for one last tilt at success at the Grand Tour.

The Manx sprinter’s bid was curtailed last summer after crashing out on Stage 8 of the race, but he returns to the French roads with a strong supporting Astana Qazaqstan line-up around him.

Many of the world’s top sprinters are also on the startlist ahead of the Grand Depart from Florence on Saturday, with Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen returning having won four stages in 2023 and rising star Arnaud De Lie set for a debut for Lotto Dstny.

Yet Thomas believes his good friend has little to fear, backing the 39-year-old to “beat them all”.

“I think so,” Thomas said on the Watts Occuring podcast when asked if Cavendish would break Merckx’s record.

“I saw a list of all of the sprinters at the Tour. Obviously top of the list there’s [Jasper] Philipsen who had an unbelievable Tour last year, but he lost two stages at the Belgian tour.

“Cav isn’t scared of anyone, but he doesn’t have that feel of, ‘woah, it’s Philipsen’. Maybe it will change if he wins the first two sprints in the Tour. But he’s the standout really – you’ve got Sam Bennett, [Arnaud] Demare, [Phil] Bauhaus, [Mads] Pedersen, [Bryan] Coquard, [Biniam] Girmay, [Fabio] Jakobsen, [Dylan] Groenewegen, [Arnaud] De Lie. Cav can beat all of them.

“Looking at that, I’m not scared of anyone for Cav. He’s got a great chance, I reckon.”

Thomas and Cavendish came through the British Cycling set-up together, regularly featuring alongside one another at major events at the track before uniting briefly on the road while Team Sky colleagues in 2012.

The Welshman helped his friend out by joining his lead-out for a memorable victory at last year’s Giro d’Italia.

Thomas, 38, will ride a 13th Tour this summer and is relishing a new role supporting Ineos Grenadiers team leaders Carlos Rodriguez and Egan Bernal having already finished on the podium at the Giro this year.

“It’s going to be a super competitive and hard race, but we’ve got a super-strong team with plenty of experience and Carlos is clearly on the up this season,” Thomas, winner of the yellow jersey in 2018, explained.

“Personally, I am looking forward to racing with a bit less pressure and more freedom to mix it up and try to get really stuck in.

“I didn’t know how I would feel after the Giro and getting back to training as I have never done the Giro-Tour double before, but it’s been a solid block and the legs are feeling pretty good.

“I thought it would be really hard to stay on it, but I’ve enjoyed it and got some good work done.

“Obviously, it’s a slight unknown how the body will respond given I haven’t had a season like this before, but I am feeling pretty fresh mentally and just looking forward to the Tour getting started now.”