Cavendish Ties Merckx!!!

Mark Cavendish was set up beautifully by his Deceunick--Quick-Step mates in the final kilometers.  And then the Manx Missile did what he does best -- blast past his competition.  He's now tied with Eddy Merckx for the most Tour de France stage wins with 34.  What an amazing sprint to make history!

That's the look of a man with his 4th stage win in this year's Tour de France and his 34th overall.  Our model was back on track with today's stage.

• Stage 13:  5h 04' 29" (actual), 4' 59' 08" (prediction), 05' 21" fast (-1.76% error)

Cavendish had a great average speed, given that temperatures exceeded 30 C (86 F) and cross winds surpassed 18 kph (11 mph).

• Stage 13:  12.04 m/s (43.33 kph or 26.93 mph)

Tomorrow's Stage 14 is a medium mountain stage that picks up in Carcassonne and takes riders south to Quillan.  There are five category climbs in the 183.7-km (114.1-mi) stage.  Our prediction is given below.

• Stage 14:  4h 23' 19" (prediction)

It's now time for the climbers and GC contenders to make some noise!