Mark Cavendish was forced to withdraw from his farewell Tour de France after crashing on stage eight. 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 meters of winning a record-breaking 35th stage in Bordeaux.
After crashing in the peloton about 60 kilometers from the finish line of stage eight from Libourne to Limoges, Cavendish fell heavily and grabbed his shoulder.
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Cavendish will thus end his career tied with Belgian Eddy Merckx with 34 Tour stage victories, despite having announced in May that he will retire at the end of the current campaign.
In the sprint to the finish line in Bordeaux on Friday, Cavendish edged off Jasper Philipsen, but as he tried to apply maximum force, his gears jumped, preventing him from breaking the record.
Cavendish married the model Peta Todd in 2013, and the two are parents to three kids.
They first met while she was covering Mark’s racing in California when she was working for The Sun’s Page 3.
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Peta has committed her time to helping the Help for Heroes charity raise money in addition to hosting the Things I Told My Daughter Podcast for The Sun.
Peta hiked Mount Kilimanjaro with wounded service members and women in 2009, and the year after that, she received an award for her exemplary service to the charity, which also included a one-on-one meeting with Prince William.
Cavendish withdrew on the same day that Philipsen was defeated in a sprint for the first time this year as the Belgian cyclist finished second to stage winner Mads Pedersen. Belgian Wout van Aert came in third.
With a lead of 25 seconds over Tadej Pogacar, the defending champion Jonas Vingegaard kept the yellow jersey of the overall leader. Australian Jai Hindley was in third place and was 1:34 off the lead.
Simon Yates of Britain, who was fourth overall until he fell about 3.5 miles from the finish line and lost 47 seconds, is now in fifth place, ahead of his twin brother Adam.