As of the 2023 Tour de France, Mark Cavendish had won 34 Tour de France stages.
Cavendish reached 34 victories in 2021, when he won four stages for Deceuninck–Quick-Step. Those wins brought him level with Eddy Merckx, whose total had stood as the race record for decades. Cavendish’s victories were primarily bunch sprints, earning him the nickname “the Manx Missile.”
He entered the 2023 race seeking a 35th stage win and therefore an outright record. Cavendish finished second on stage seven, but a crash on stage eight fractured his collarbone and forced him to abandon the Tour. Consequently, his total remained 34 at the end of that edition.
The wording “as of 2023” is important. Cavendish returned in 2024 and won stage five, taking his 35th Tour stage victory and moving ahead of Merckx. That later result does not change the answer for a question specifically anchored to 2023.