RIMINI, Italy (AP) — Mark Cavendish appeared to wrestle with abdomen and warmth points in the course of the opening stage of the Tour de France on Saturday.
He barely completed inside the most time restrict to maintain alive his pursuit of breaking a tie with Eddy Merckx for essentially the most profession stage wins in biking’s largest race.
Vomiting whereas on his bike, Cavendish dropped behind the pack on the very first climb, the second-category Col de Valico Tre Faggi, and 4 Astana teammates dropped again to assist the British rider.
However Cavendish held on and completed 174th of the 175 riders who accomplished the stage. He crossed 39 minutes, 12 seconds behind stage winner Romain Bardet.
Cavendish equaled Merckx’s mark of 34 stage wins in the course of the 2021 Tour and got here near profitable a thirty fifth on the seventh stage in 2023. He then crashed in the course of the eighth stage final 12 months, breaking his proper collarbone. So the 39-year-old Cavendish delay retirement by a 12 months to return again and take a look at once more at breaking his tie with Merckx.
The 206-kilometer (128-mile) route from Florence to the Adriatic coastal resort of Rimini marked one of many hardest Tour begins in latest reminiscence, that includes seven categorized climbs and greater than 3,600 meters (11,800 ft) of ascending.
Warmth was additionally an element on the opening day, with the temperature hovering to 36 levels (97 F). Teammates dumped water over Cavendish’s head to try to cool him down. Then Cavendish vomited twice, as soon as close to the highest of the opening climb and once more on the descent.
Cavendish, who gained his first Tour stage manner again in 2008, was simply hoping to get by within the opening two levels earlier than aiming for the report in Monday’s third leg, the primary flat stage that units up nicely for sprinters. There’s one other handful of flat levels later within the race.
It was a tough day for your complete Astana crew as Tour rookie Michele Gazzoli — one of many riders who dropped again to assist Cavendish — deserted the race halfway by means of the stage.
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