When Mads Pedersen broke the dominance of speed king Jasper Philipsen, the best sprinter in history was on his way to the hospital.
Mark Cavendish fell 60 kilometers from the finish on Saturday’s stage eight and had to abandon the 110th Tour de France with a broken right collarbone. Instead of becoming the sole record holder with 35 stage victories, the ex-world champion said goodbye to the most important cycling race in the world with pain and an empty stare.
“It is so sad”
“It’s so sad that such a legend has to end the tour like this,” said Pedersen. The Dane relegated the three-time winner of the day, Philipsen, to second place in the demanding sprint in Limoges. Phil Bauhaus didn’t have a chance on his 29th birthday, but he had words of comfort towards Cavendish: “I’m really sorry. I know Mark, I drove with him in the team for a year, a super nice guy, I like him. That is not wished on anyone. It is bitter for him.”
For his last tour – Cavendish ends his career in the fall – the Briton had brought his former driver Mark Renshaw into the team as a sprint consultant. On Friday that was almost crowned by victory when Cavendish in second only missed out on victory due to a gearshift problem. “I’ll be honest, I cried. We put so much work into it,” said Renshaw. “It hurts more than yesterday and I didn’t think it was possible. His form is there, he had the legs.”
Cavendish fell on a straight country road in the Dordogne on Saturday afternoon. His teammate Gianni Moscon drove right next to him. “Cav touched the rear wheel of another rider with his front wheel and then that was it. It quickly became clear that he had to give up. We were just sad for the rest of the stage,” said the Italian.
Kittel: “Breaks my heart”
Cavendish sat blankly in the tour doctor’s van and had a bandage wrapped around his shoulder. The tour radio crackled: “Cavendish abandon” – Cavendish gives up. “It breaks my heart,” wrote Marcel Kittel on Twitter. The Thuringian is the German record holder with 14 daily successes and is a TV expert on the tour.
Cavendish announced in May that he would retire at the end of the year. The ex-world champion wanted to win his 35th stage on his 14th and last tour. He would have surpassed the legend Eddy Merckx, with whom he is currently tied in first place with 34 daily successes. The day before in Bordeaux, Cavendish was close to victory in front of his family, but a problem with the gearshift meant he had to let Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen pass him.
For his big goal, Cavendish had changed teams again before the season. Since he did not get a new contract with QuickStep and had overwhelming competition in Fabio Jakobsen, he signed with Astana. His last tour was all about the record. “I will regret not being able to enjoy the moment and the whole tour experience, but I have a job to do,” said the Isle of Man professional.
Wins, falls and setbacks
The sprinter’s tour history was characterized by great successes, but also by falls and setbacks. In 2014 he fell on the first stage of the Grand Départ in Yorkshire, three years later Peter Sagan took him out of the race with a dangerous maneuver in a bunch sprint. In 2018 Cavendish fell out of the time limit in the mountains, in the following two years he missed the tour and in 2020 he was close to the end of his career.
However, QuickStep boss Patrick Lefevere offered him a minimum-wage contract. Cavendish hit it and was surprisingly nominated for the 2021 tour due to Irish Sam Bennett’s poor form. There the Briton amazed as in the best of times, winning four stages and the green jersey. At the end of May he won the last stage of the Giro and increased his winnings to 162 successes. It is questionable whether more will be added.
Before the first rest day, there is another spectacle. On Sunday, the legendary Puy de Dôme will be climbed again for the first time in 35 years, when Rolf Gölz took second place behind the Dane Johnny Weitz. His compatriot Vingegaard will try to distance Pogacar. The last 4.5 kilometers in particular offer the opportunity to do so, with an average incline of twelve percent.
Tour de France website
