The dream is over: Mark Cavendish crashes out of final Tour de France
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Mark Cavendish has abandoned his final Tour de France after crashing with just over 60km to go in stage 8.
The crash happened on a straight piece of road, with a slow-down near the front of the bunch ricocheting through the group. Cavendish was sat further back in the peloton with his team, but came down hard.
Cavendish’s fall was not seen by cameras but he was later shown lying on the ground and clutching his collarbone with his teammates around him.
After receiving assistance from the medical team on the road, he was transferred to the race ambulance where he was treated for what looked like a broken collarbone.
Mark Cavendish lies on the ground after crashing (Photo: Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images)
His team later confirmed the nature of the injury, saying that it was partially related to an earlier crash in 2017.
🇫🇷 RACE: @LeTour @MarkCavendish broke his right collarbone. Moreover because of the fracture an
ostesynthesis screw in the acromioclavicular joint (being there since his crash in 2017 Tour de France) is loose.#TDF2023 #AstanaQazaqstanTeam — Astana Qazaqstan Team (@AstanaQazTeam) July 8, 2023
Cavendish was riding his final Tour de France after announcing earlier this season that 2023 would be his last year as a professional.
He was attempting to become the rider with the most Tour de France stage victories after going equal with Eddy Merckx on 34 two years ago.
Cavendish came close to breaking the record on stage 7 on Friday after launching an early sprint to the line. However, he was overhauled by Jasper Philipsen, who claimed his third victory of the race so far.
He later said that he had suffered with skipping gears as he tried to sprint, which had forced him to ease off before sprinting again.
Having finished sixth, fifth and then second on stages in this year’s race, momentum seemed to be on his side. Instead he is out of the race and, barring a change of mind about retiring this year, will remain level with Eddy Merckx on 34 stages.
Source: Outside Magazine
