Mark Cavendish He lived what, in principle, is his last day in the Tour de France with pain. He crashed with 64 km to go before the end of the eighth stage of the gala round and suffered a fractured right clavicle as a result of that accident on the way to Limoges, as reported by his team. Radiological tests reveal that due to the fracture, an osteosynthesis screw has loosened in the acromioclavicular joint that has been in Cavendish’s clavicle since his accident in the 2017 Tour de France.
Cavendish withdraws from the Tour de France and will not be able to surpass Merckx’s record
The 38-year-old rider suffered a fall on a stretch of ascent and immediately showed pain in his right shoulder, the product of a fracture that ended his last Tour de France, since he has decided to retire at the end of this season according to reported on the Giro d’Italia. With this withdrawal, Cavendish will not be able to undo the tie at 34 stage victories in the Tour that he shares with the Belgian Eddy Merckx.
hopeful information
But, according to reports L?EquipeIn Astana they hope that he can return next year already recovered to break that figure. Although, for that, he should reconsider his decision. Something that he already did in the past after announcing his goodbye from Bahrain.
On the other hand, the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, opens the door to that possible return. “On Friday we thought for a few seconds that he would make it, but now it’s over. We are all sad. Cavendish has been very important to the Tour. I remember once I was riding alone in the Alps, almost out of control, but I wanted to finish. We had to ask the police not to release the tracks yet,” said Prudhomme, who underlined Cavendish’s respect for the Tour.
Pedersen triumphs the day Cavendish said goodbye to the Tour forever
“I will always be welcome, with or without a bike. He was one of my favorite runners. When I saw him as a child, I wanted his legs and his style,” he concluded. Another soap opera can open, we’ll see if it’s ‘Cavs’ himself who closes it.
De la Cruz and Moscon regret the loss of their leader
(EFE). The fall and subsequent retirement of Mark Cavendish that prevented the Briton from breaking the record of 34 stage wins that he shares with Eddy Meerckx, brought grief and frustration to the ranks of Astana. Companions of the “Expreso de Mano”, such as the Spanish David de la Cruz and the Italian Gianni Moscon, expressed their sorrow at the finish line in Limoges.
“This is bullshit. Mark was our leader and we all had hopes that he could achieve a victory to meet his goal. Yesterday he was close and the record was feasible. It’s a very hard time for everyone,” said the Spanish cyclist. De la Cruz recalled that Astana has already lost Luis León Sánchez due to a clavicle fracture “and now the same thing is happening to us with Mark.”
“It has been a fall going up, a pity. Mark is a person and charismatic on and off the road and he was very motivated. Now we have to accept this new low and rethink things,” he said.
An eyewitness to Cavendish’s downfall was the Italian Gianni Moscon. “We were at the back of the pack right after the first climb of the day and there was a crash in front of us. Cav had to hit the brake hard, someone changed the trajectory and he just hit the rear wheel of the other rider in front before to fall”, recounted.
According to Moscon, “it was a very ugly fall”, so the transalpine cyclist stayed with Cavendish for a few minutes. But “he couldn’t stay in the race, so we had to get back in the pack,” he added. “He was suffering a lot. I tried to see how he was doing and if I could help him get back into the race, but he had to give up,” he stressed. Moscon stressed that he hopes that the consequences of the fall of Mark Cavendish “are not so bad”.
