Mark Cavendish crashed out of what was set to be his remaining Tour de France on Saturday, ending the dash legend’s quest to go one higher than Eddie Merckx for stage wins.
The 38-year-old British rider received caught up in a crash on a flat part of street seemingly with out hazard coming into the village of La Chapelle-Verlaine some 63km from the end.
In agony he was taken to hospital with a damaged collarbone as Denmark’s Mads Pedersen went on to win a bunch dash in Limoges in central France.
“I won’t lie, I cried. Everyone in the team is hurting,” mentioned Astana dash advisor Mark Renshaw.
“Second yesterday, and today, to have this happen to Mark… It’s hard.”
Widely considered biking’s best sprinter, Cavendish got here into this yr’s Tour degree on 34 stage wins with Belgian nice Merckx.
Jasper Philipsen had denied him a report thirty fifth stage win on Friday. On Saturday, former world champion Pedersen received forward of Belgian duo Philipsen and Wout van Aert.
“It’s sad a legend like him ends his Tour like that,” mentioned Trek-Segafredo rider Pedersen.
“I hoped so bad he’d get his 35th win on the Tour. It’s painful not only for him but also for so many other people in cycling, riders and fans, everyone,” he added.
Italian rider Gianni Moscon was behind Cavendish when he fell. “There was a crash in front of us and Cav had to break because someone changed line,” he mentioned.
“He just hit the rear wheel of the guy in front of him and went down.”
‘Very charismatic’
Ashen-faced Cavendish remained on the street rolling in ache each time he reached in direction of his proper shoulder earlier than being evacuated to hospital by ambulance.
“It hurts,” mentioned Astana teammate David de la Cruz.
“He was the leader of the team, he was close to victory. It’s a super hard moment, a great pain. He is very charismatic and brings a lot to the group.” Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme mentioned it was “an emotional day”. “For a few seconds yesterday we thought he would achieve his goal, and today it’s over,” he mentioned.
“He’s the best sprinter in Tour de France history and he’ll always be welcome here, with or without a bike.”
Cavendish burst on to the Tour de France map in 2008 together with his first 4 wins when he was simply 23 years outdated.
His celebrations made such good tv he attracted a brand new era of followers to the game.
A pupil of the wonderful artwork of the dash lead-out and a bullish competitor, the Isle of Man native matched Merckx on 34 wins in 2021.
He missed the reduce in 2022 however modified groups for 2023 the place he appeared able to clinching the all vital stage for which he strived so laborious.
Although Cavendish initially mentioned this could be his remaining Tour de France he left the door open to a different yr on the eve of this tour.
“I’m still racing, still loving it, and I’ll keep doing it until I stop,” he mentioned.
“The biggest thing I can say is never give up, do what you want and enjoy it, but commit to it. It’s a good rule to live by.” In the general standings Jonas Vingegaard saved the chief’s yellow jersey 25 seconds forward of Tadej Pogacar.
“It was really sad indeed to hear that news,” mentioned defending champion Vingegaard of Cavendish.
“Everyone wanted him to win another stage,” mentioned two-time winner Pogacar. “He was on good form too. If you saw him yesterday he was so close. It’s awful,” added the Slovenian, who described Cavendish as one of many idols of his youth.
On Sunday, the race goes again to the slopes the place the duel between Pogacar and Vingegaard can be given a becoming setting because the peloton climbs the dormant Puy de Dome volcano.
The venue has been flagged because the Tour’s prime stage as a lot for its storied previous as for its fearsome 13km slope topping out with 4km at 12 per cent gradient.
‘Heartbreaking’
His fellow athletes reacted to the news, calling the event heartbreaking.
SBS stories that Tadej Pogačar mentioned, “When I heard in the race he’d crashed it was a sad moment, because he’s in good shape now. I think everybody here wanted him to win one stage and yesterday he was super close. It’s a bad moment.”
Fred Wright mentioned: “It’s heartbreaking actually. I’ve solely simply discovered now, I imply you possibly can inform there was carnage occurring behind, however we had been simply combating, combating, combating to be within the entrance the entire time.“
Source: www.news.com.au
