Mark Cavendish’s hopes of breaking the file for stage wins at the Tour de France led to merciless trend on Saturday when the Briton crashed out of this 12 months’s race, which he has lengthy mentioned shall be his final, and broke his collarbone.
The 38-year-old, who will retire at the end of the 12 months, fell off his bike with 64km left in the eighth stage gained by Mads Pedersen, and was taken into an ambulance for checks earlier than his withdrawal was made official by race organisers.
The Astana-Qazaqstan rider was trying to develop into the solely man with 35 stage wins on the world’s best biking race, to beat the file he shares with Belgian nice Eddy Merckx, who bagged 34 victories from 1969-75.
Cavendish had come shut to attaining his aim when he took second place on Friday in the seventh stage in Bordeaux after struggling a mechanical drawback in the closing straight.
He held his proper arm after crashing on Saturday, mendacity down in agony, visibly in ache and with blood on his elbow. He then held his head in disbelief as he climbed into the race ambulance the place docs strapped up his shoulder.
“Mark Cavendish broke his right collarbone. Moreover because of the fracture, an ostesynthesis screw in the acromioclavicular joint (shoulder) is loose,” the group mentioned in a press release.
The screw has been in his shoulder since a crash in the 2017 Tour de France.
His withdrawal was successfully confirmed a couple of minutes later when the ambulance’s door was slammed shut, bringing a detailed to a exceptional Tour de France journey that began in 2007.
“Second yesterday, and today (to) have this happen to Mark it’s hard because we know his shape’s here, we know he has the legs,” Mark Renshaw, who was Cavendish’s lead-out man from 2009-2011 and in 2016 and joined Astana-Qazaqstan as a dash adviser, advised reporters.
“I won’t lie, I cried. Everyone in the team is hurting.”
“It is an emotional day,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme mentioned. “He’s the finest sprinter in the historical past of the Tour de France. During two or three seconds yesterday we thought he would reach reaching his aim, and right now, it’s over. We are unhappy, the Tour de France is gloomy.
“Mark deserves the respect of the Tour. He always will be welcome with or without his bike.”
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