tour reporter
The Tour de France should have been one last triumph for Mark Cavendish. But instead of a 35th stage win, the Tour de France ends with a fall on the 8th stage. That also hurts the competitors.
Cycling is brutal. Pain is at the core of this sport. This is not an entirely new finding, but it was emphasized once again in a particularly dramatic way on the 8th stage of the Tour de France to Limoges.
Mark Cavendish was on the road with almost 65 kilometers to go after a fall, holding onto his right shoulder and it quickly became clear: the British sprinter couldn’t go any further. “It was a stupid fall” said the Spaniard David de la Cruz later at the finish, one of Cavendish’s deeply shaken teammates.
with empty facial expression
As Cavendish fell, the racing situation was relaxed: in front a breakaway trio with a controlled distance and in the back of the field the expectation of a sprint final in Limoges. The peloton moved on a wide, slightly uphill road. “You’re not fully focused”said de la Cruz.
Before Cavendish to the hospital after Perigueux was brought, he was seen again already sitting in a car with a blank expression on his face. The mental pain must have been much greater than the physical pain of the broken collarbone. It was his last tour participation, that one on the asphalt in the Dordogne ended. had in May Cavendish38, announced his retirement at the end of the season.
Cavendish’s love of the tour has always been great
In all the years of his career as a professional cyclist, which started in 2007 Cavendish always emphasizes that the Tour de France is the race he loves the most and which has given him the greatest emotions over the years. And successes: With 34 stage victories on the Tour, he shares the record with the great Eddy Merckx.
His last tour participation should now bring him this one win and make him the sole record holder. And even if the competition in the world’s most important cycle race was not ready, Cavendish simply giving him this success, there are many within the field of drivers who would have given him this success.
Van Aert: “A shame”
“I was hoping so much that he would get that 35th win”said Denmark’s Mads Pedersen, who won the Limoges stage. “The fact that he now has to leave the race after a fall is painful, not only for him, but also for many riders in the peloton and the fans.”
Also Wout van Aertin limoges arrived in third place, expressed his sympathy: It was a “shame” that Cavendish had to leave the tour in this way. “He deserved to end this in style”, said the Belgian. especially Cavendish Yes, I had only shown the day before that he still had a stage win in him.
was on Friday Cavendish sprinted to second place behind Belgian Jasper Philipsen in Bordeaux. Up to 30 meters from the finish he even looked like a sure winner again and later blamed problems with the gearshift for the fact that Philipsen was still able to pass.
tears at the team
Cavendish had found shelter with Team Astana before the season after being without a contract in the winter. With the Kazakh team, however, they have no experience with sprinters, which is why the preparation for the finals was mostly quite mixed up.
“He was our leader”said Cavendishs teammate de la Cruz now in Limoges. “We worked patiently and really believed we could get that one win with him.” Mark Renshaw, once a key driver for Cavendish and briefly hired as a sprint consultant prior to the Tour, reported that he cried when he saw his sprinter lying on the road and was not the only one.
Will Cavendish race again?
For the team, the goal was lost with the elimination of the Brit. For Cavendish more fundamental questions arise: Tour de France he will only return as a guest. And it is questionable whether after this blow he will find the motivation to compete in a race again before giving up completely at the end of the season. “He shouldn’t decide that tonight”said Rolf Aldag, the sporting director of the Bora-hansgrohe team.
Aldag has many years with Cavendish worked together. The rating of Cavendish’s Achievements did not depend on the one 35th stage victory that is no longer achievable, says Aldag. If Cavendish for the greatest cyclist in history to have become, opinions would certainly have differed on that. “But there is no question that even without this win he is the greatest sprinter of all time.”