After being forced to leave the race on Saturday due to a crash, Mark Cavendish’s attempt to win a record-breaking 35th stage of the Tour de France is gone. Cavendish crashed in the peloton and fell hard while gripping his shoulder around 60 kilometers from the finish line of the eighth stage from Libourne to Limoges.
Cavendish’s remarkable Tour career came to an end in the back of an ambulance less than 24 hours after he came within a few feet of a historic victory in Bordeaux. An innocent brush of wheels had prematurely terminated his final outing in the race he loves.
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The legendary sprinter from the Isle of Man nicknamed as “The Manx Missile” was competing in his final season when he crashed out of the race during the eighth stage on Saturday.
13 years after his first victory, Cavendish tied Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 Tour stage wins in 2021. He was passed over for last year’s competition.
After the former world champion stated in May during the Giro d’Italia that he will retire from cycling at the end of the season, this year was his final opportunity to become the undisputed record holder.
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Cavendish crashed out of this year’s race, joining Enric Mas, Richard Carapaz, Jacopo Guarnieri, and Luis Leon Sanchez as the fifth rider to withdraw.
Cavendish joined the Astana-Qazaqstan team in January to extend his illustrious career by one season in the hopes that he would add at least one more stage victory to his total. Cavendish was not chosen by his former Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl squad for last year’s Tour de France.
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He twice took home the green jersey for best sprinter in the Tour de France. He has won stages in each of the three Grand Tour competitions — the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Spanish Vuelta — and in 2011 he was crowned world champion.
