Mark Cavendish crashed at the back of the peloton on Stage 8. Photo: AFP/THOMAS SAMSON
You knew that. was serious when Mark Cavendish, a man with such a freakishly high pain threshold that he once refused to tell his children that he had punctured a lung, lay prone on the pavement in agony.
While his fall looked harmless, on a flat stretch of country road 40 miles from Limoges, he felt the terrible certainty that his collarbone, the problem area for all cyclists who hit the ground at speed, was broken. And yet it was not the acute discomfort that worried him most, but the timing.
In all likelihood, this was Cavendish's last chance to win the 35th stage of the Tour de France, which would break the draw with Eddy Merckx and set absolute record. Even at 38 years old, Cavendish showed he could do it, after all, the night before he won only because of equipment failure.
The line between joy and despair in this sport is as thin as a web. And the best sprinter of the time, and perhaps of any age, rediscovered that brutal truth as he climbed into a racing ambulance with his right arm in a sling and his face in misery.
TV footage shows Cavendish being taken out of the race by medics
This was not the end he deserved on his farewell grand tour. The term «farewell» is used deliberately, after Cavendish stated it during a tearful press conference with his family. But it takes a brave soul to make that a definitive conclusion, given Cavendish's history of climbing out of deep career potholes.
There was a strong emotional investment in his quest for number 35, to the point that Christian Vande Velde , his old friend, spoke in a trembling voice about the consequences of the plane crash.
“It’s terrible to think about any sport where it is so fragile that something can be taken from you so quickly,” he said. “To see it after the form he showed as the best in the world at the age of 38? The record will be broken for a while. I'm glad I was able to hug him this morning because I'm not sure when I'll see him next.”
On the way to Limoges, Cavendish rode defensively, wary of the hilly terrain that lay ahead. He still felt the bitter disappointment of losing to Belgian Jasper Philipsen in Bordeaux, a stage he had carefully targeted in his pursuit of a record-breaking feat.
But there was enough reason to believe that he could still tilt fate in his favor. He developed the highest speeds of any member of the peloton, and he was meticulous about not giving in to sentimentality, insisting that he still had work to do. Only the most unfortunate impact of the wheels knocked him off the rails. Neither he nor the Netflix crew that followed his every move across France had the denouement they craved.
Cavendish (center) was trying to break Eddy Merckx's record for stage wins. Photo: Shutterstock/MARTIN DIVISEK.
Christian Prudhomme, race director, had to express the extent of Cavendish's refusal. “He was so sad after the fall,” he said. “He is the best sprinter in Tour history. He wanted to try to win the 35th stage and was second the day before. For two or three seconds we thought that he would achieve his goal, and today it's all over. So he's sad, we're sad, Le Tour is sad.
“Mark deserves everyone's respect. He will always be welcome here, with or without his bike.”
You may have noticed the desperation among Cavendish's Astana-Kazakhstan teammates.
«I stayed with him to see how he was feeling, but he really suffered,» said Gianni Moscon. “There was really nothing to say. I tried to see if I could help him get back in the race, but he had to refuse.
And so, on one of the least remarkable sections of this year's course, one of the most important works in all of cycling has, in all likelihood, been completed forever.
Cavendish acquired a gift for the theater in these moments, which he proved by winning the last victory at the stage of the Giro d'Italia in front of the Colosseum in May. But he's also old enough and shabby enough to know that the latest chapters in his sport aren't tied neatly with ribbons. While in Rome, he wrote a magnificently poetic farewell script, his expression in the French ambulance telling of his sense of disappointment. achievement. At his peak, Cavendish was one of the most dominant athletes on the planet, winning a staggering 23 events between 2008 and 2012. The rocking style with which he delivered his decisive bursts of acceleration will forever remain iconic.
And it is this image, much more than the flashing blue lights with which he was carried off into the pastoral south-west of France, that will remain in the public mind.
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