Mark Cavendish survives the torments of a day on tour: ‘I saw stars’

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RIMINI, Italy (Cycling) – The first stage of the 2024 Tour de France was not going to be easy for Mark Cavendish, with more than 3,600 meters of elevation gain and seven categorized climbs on a saw blade course between Florence and Rimini.

But when Astana Qazaqstan team leader was dropped on the very first climb of the day, Colle delle Faggi, vomited and fell five minutes behind the peloton, fears of the worst were understandable.

The sport’s most prolific sprinter appeared to be in danger of missing the time limit or being forced to retire before he could turn a pedal competitively in a bunch sprint, let alone finish a stage.

That, after his broken collarbone in Bordeaux during his first Tour de France 12 months ago, it would be another fairy tale that would quickly become a drama, another failed Tour. Surely not again?

However, you don’t win 34 stages of the Tour de France without having immense strength, resilience and experience, and Cavendish had to call on all of these qualities to get through the day and ensure he remained looking for a record. number 35.

As the stage progressed, Cavendish and his four Astana teammates, Bol, Ballerini, Fedorov and Mørkov, rode at a steady pace, picking up pace behind a group that included Jonas Rickaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and DSM-Firmenich’s post-NL pair of Fabio Jakobsen and Bram Welten.

It was hot and the road was difficult in the hills of Emilia-Romagna, but it became clear that even if Cavendish lost time, it was not going to stop his journey to the Tour.

After a 160-kilometre delay, he arrived in Rimini more than 39 minutes behind winner Romain Bardet, still being driven the last few metres in the team bus by loyal leader Michael Mørkov. The big question was: was he suffering from an illness or from cauldron-like temperatures that exceeded 97F?

“I think it was just the heat,” he told the media outside his team bus after the finish. “It’s not easy. I always say: if you have my body type now, don’t start cycling because those days (sic) are gone. But we know what we’re doing.

“It was very difficult, but we had a plan and we implemented it. I would have liked to stay one more climb with the peloton but I was seeing stars, it was so hot. But I am happy that we managed to get through it and move on to the second stage.

Cavendish lives to fight another day and further explained how he and his teammates make calculations to ensure they don’t go home, finishing behind the allotted time.

“We don’t give in easily. It’s anyone’s guess what the front runners are going to do,” he said. “And then we think about what we can do, what we have to do to respect the time limit on each climb. It’s a bit boring, but that’s how cycling has become. It’s a great story if you’re close to the time gap, but the time limit isn’t really there to put people out of the race, it’s there when people are sick and injured, that’s normal . »

“Keep fighting, Mark!” shouted a British fan from the crowd gathered around him as his interview drew to a close. That much is certain.

🇮🇹🇫🇷 COURSE: @Round

Well, it wasn’t the race start we were expecting, but 7 of our runners, including @MarkCavendish All completed the stage within the allotted time. #TDF2024 #AstanaQazaqstanTeam

– Astana Qazaqstan Team (@AstanaQazTeam) June 29, 2024

However, Cavendish was dealt a blow to his hopes of a stage win in the bunch sprint when teammate Michele Gazzoli retired, becoming the first DNF of the race. “I hope he’s OK,” he said of the young Italian. Team manager Alexandre Vinokourov said the young Italian suffered heatstroke in the sweltering conditions.

Although it seemed that something was wrong with Cavendish’s health, talking to BikeVinokourov confirmed that Cavendish was “not sick.” I knew it would be a difficult stage for Mark, it wasn’t his type of day. He calculated the watts and distance, and we did everything as planned. »

The Tour’s first bunch sprint opportunity should come on stage 3 in Turin, but Sunday’s second day of the Tour is another day of gruppetto creeping for Cavendish and his fellow sprinters, with more than 1,900 metres and two late climbs of the San Luca before a finish in Bologna.

Does Vinokourov have any concerns for Cavendish for tomorrow’s stage? “Tomorrow is another day, you have to take things day by day. He has to recover today, we have already set our target, our goal and we are working on that,” he said.