Mark Cavendish’s quest to break the record for all-time Tour de France stage wins got off to a terrible start on the first stage, with the Astana rider being dropped on the first climb of the day, suffering from the Italian heat and vomiting while riding far behind the peloton.
Cavendish was not expected to be a contender for the first two stages of the Tour de France, with the dynamic Italian roads not suiting his dynamic characteristics, however, he did not expect to drop out of the peloton with over 160 kilometers still to go. travel before arriving in Rimini.
The day’s breakaway finished and the pace not being infernal on the 12.5 km of the Col de Valico Tre Faggi, Cavendish was seen getting watered. Temperatures at the start exceeded 37°C and ice vests and extra water bottles were commonplace among all teams.
Cavendish showed no signs of recovery as he fell back further and was later seen vomiting repeatedly as a number of his Astana Qazaqstan teammates returned to try and help him survive the first stage.
His team did not comment on what was ailing Cavendish in the first game when asked by Eurosport’s Jens Voigt what was wrong with him, but it appeared to be a stomach ache rather than heatstroke, Sport He reported giving up his gels and bars after he couldn’t keep anything down anymore.
The gap to Cavendish and what was to be his sprint train of Cees Bol, Davide Ballerini, Michael Mørkøv and Michele Gazzoli at the back of the peloton exceeded the 10-minute mark with more than 100km still to go in the stage.
The good news for Cavendish was that his group of five grew when teammates Fabio Jakobsen and Bram Welten (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and Jonas Rickaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) joined them, adding manpower on their return journey.
Cavendish, 39, is competing in his 15th Tour de France in 2024 and is seeking a historic 35th stage win that would put him above Eddy Merckx in the all-time stage wins rankings.
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