His breakthrough came at the 2007 Scheldeprijs race in Belgium, which he won. He went on to win stages at the Four Days of Dunkirk and the Volta a Catalunya leading to his selection for the Tour de France. He crashed in stages one and two and abandoned the race at stage eight as it reached the Alps. Although he had taken two top-ten placings he was unhappy not to have had a top-five placing. His début season continued with ten stage wins, one behind Alessandro Petacchi's record eleven for a début season. Cavendish took his eleventh win in early October—the Circuit Franco-Belge—to equal Petacchi's record. Among the wins were three in UCI ProTour events—two in the Volta a Catalunya and one in the Eneco Tour.