Astana Kazakstan has reset after losing Mark Cavendish to a crash on stage 8 of the Tour de France, with his lead-out man stepping up in the absence of the British veteran.

Mark Renshaw will remain with the team as a consultant until the end of the race in Paris, and Cees Bol says his assist will make him one of the most prepared sprinters in the bunch.

"I analyzed all four sprints and gave him all the overhead footage. He has all the video of the finals along with the entire team."

Renshaw returns to the Tour this month for the first time since retiring from racing in 2019, initially aiming to help Cavendish in his quest for a record 35th stage win.

Cavendish, an Australian, played a major role in the Tour's brilliant success as a lead-out specialist, and in 2009 he even managed a one-two finish on the Champs-Élysées.

"We will really miss him because he was indispensable," Renshaw said. Gianni Moscon joined the team because of his success in the Giro and his combination with Cav, and Cees Boll joined the team for Cav."

"So it's a great opportunity for Cees right now to have a chance to be on the podium and win.

Jasper Philippsen (Alpecin-Desseuninck) was touted as a pre-Tour sprinter and proved why with his fourth win in Moulin on stage 11. Boll was 12th.

"It was a relatively relaxed day. But the rain on the last stage made it a little stressful," Boll said after the race. We were in a good position for a long time, behind Soudal-Quick Step and Jumbo-Visma." [The last 3km or so were super hectic and we dropped back a little too far. It's always the same with the final line, it's always chaos behind the lead group and everyone is trying to find a way out. It's always frustrating."

Switching from running for someone else to running for himself is a physical and mental challenge, but Boll has done it at least once this season.

"It's always really hard," he said.

"Luckily, he's had a lot of opportunities to sprint this year.

"But he got through yesterday's stage [stage 10] really well, and as a sprinter, he's probably the most recovered of all the riders. But of course, he's not a pure sprinter like Philipsen, Jacobsen, or Groenewegen.

Boll will be competing in the Tour for the fourth time in his career, but he has had his chances in this race in the past. He last competed in the 2021 edition and supported several stages in 2019 with Michael Matthews on Team DSM.

"He had a lot of chances in 2021, but he told me this morning that he wasn't as well prepared as he is now. He'll be glad he did, and all he has to do is not hesitate to go if he gets the chance."

While Philipsen has dominated the sprint victories and remains the benchmark for the fast men in the Tour, Renshaw is not taking his Belgian rival lightly.

"I think he is a winner. He has (Mathieu) van der Pol, but Caleb Ewan will be faster." Grunewegen was really fast in the races before the Tour, but he has struggled in the last couple of sprints.

"Philipsen just rolled up his sleeves. Positioning will be key, and if we want him to run like Van der Pol, we need to make sure we anticipate his jumps."

Fabio Jacobsen is still out of the top three flat finishers after suffering skin abrasions in a violent crash on stage 4.

"When you crash like that at the start of the Tour, it's super difficult, you're five steps back. I think the big thing for them is that he is still in the race. They'll be back in the lead with 2km to 1km to go," Renshaw said.

The pure sprinters have three chances left in stages 18, 19, and 21.

"It will be really hard to win because one sprinter is so dominant in the Tour right now," Boll said. ." said Boll.