Mark Cavendish has abandoned the Tour de France after a crash on stage eight, bringing down the curtain on his Grande Boucle career in painful fashion.
A day after the Manx rider came within a few metres of what would have been a record-breaking 35th career Tour stage victory in Bordeaux, he was forced to withdraw from the race after coming off his bike during Saturday’s stage.
Cavendish announced in May that he will retire at the end of the season. Barring an unexpected comeback, he will end his career level with Eddy Merckx at the top of the all-time Tour stage standings, with 34 wins each.
With about 60km remaining of Saturday’s ride to Limoges, a touch of wheels in the peloton forced Cavendish down. The Astana-Qazaqstan rider sat holding his shoulder before being helped into an ambulance, his anguish at being forced out of his final Tour in such circumstances obvious.
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On Friday, Cavendish was agonisingly close to breaking the record, getting ahead of Jasper Philipsen on the sprint to the line in Bordeaux only for his gears to jump when he was trying to apply full power, allowing Philipsen to overtake him.
Cavendish won four stages in the 2021 Tour, equalling Merckx’s record with his victory on stage 13 in Carcassonne. Saturday’s 201km stage from Libourne to Limoges continues.
