Mark Cavendish dropped as Tour de France swansong gets off to horror start – 'His body is saying no'
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Updated 29/06/2024 at 16:47 GMT
Mark Cavendish had a bruising start to his final Tour de France as he struggled with sickness in intense heat in Italy. Shooting for a record 35th stage win to pull clear of Eddy Merckx in the all-time standings, Cavendish fell behind on Stage 1's first climb as his Astana Qazaqstan team-mates hastily assembled an emergency support team. Stream the Tour de France live on discovery+.
'Distressed' Cavendish struggles with sickness in extreme heat on opening stage
Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) suffered with sickness in extreme heat as his Tour de France swansong got off to a horrible start in Italy, but he rallied to beat the time cut on Stage 1.
The build-up to the Tour was centred on Cavendish's hunt for an outright record 35th stage victory, but excitement quickly turned to concern when he was distanced on the opening climb of the race.
Four team-mates dropped back to assist, dousing him with water and plugging ice packs down the back of his jersey amid sweltering temperatures in the mid-30s.
"This is not just a normal suffering we would expect to see from a non-climber," said 12-time stage winner Robbie McEwen on Eurosport commentary.
It soon became apparent Cavendish was struggling with more than just the punishing conditions as he was pictured being sick on the road.
As the gap ballooned to the main bunch, Astana's focus shifted to navigating him to the finish in Rimini within the time limit.
However, his condition was so dire that the 39-year-old struggled to even keep up on the descents, typically when sprinters gain back time on the peloton.
"My heart is breaking, my heart is truly breaking for Mark Cavendish and the team," said Dani Rowe, who won team pursuit gold for Team GB in the velodrome at London 2012.
"I'm almost crying, it's awful. His body is just saying no. You can see him being sick on the bike. It's just awful."
Cavendish refused to give in and was guided to the finish by his Astana colleagues, some 39 minutes down on stage winner Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) but, crucially, within the time limit.
He will need to survive six more categorised climbs at the Tour on Sunday before the first opportunity for sprinters arrives on Stage 3.
Meanwhile, there was more bad news for Astana on Saturday as Michele Gazzoli, part of Cavendish's hastily-arranged support squad, had to abandon with 88km remaining.
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