Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) fell just short of notching up a record 35th Tour de France stage win when he was pipped to victory by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the bunch sprint in Bordeaux on stage 7.
The Manxman hit the front inside the final 100m, but he was overhauled by Philipsen, who came past to claim his third stage win of the Tour, while Cavendish had to settle for second place.
Data provided by official Tour de France technology partners NTT revealed that Cavendish hit a startling 74.7kph with 300m remaining, which was the fastest speed of any of the stage's sprinters despite suffering a mild mechanical.
A disappointed Cavendish explained afterwards that he had been hampered by a problem with his gears during the sprint, with his chain jumping between the 11 and 12 sprockets.
Cavendish was not happy when he arrived at the Astana Qazaqstan team bus but quickly climbed inside to recover, watch the sprint again and perhaps realise just how close he had gone to victory.
His family was waiting for him at the front of the bus, having travelled to Bordeaux sensing it was his best chance to wi and so break the record in his final Tour de France.
“I jumped when I wanted to but unfortunately, I had a problem with my gears when I was sprinting,” Cavendish said afterwards, any anger turning to frustration but also satisfaction about his performance.
“It went from the 11 to the 12, and I had to sit down to get back to the 11. I stood up and it went back to the 12, so I’m pretty devastated actually. The boys did a good job. It was one of those situations where it’s not meant to be.”
Cavendish appeared destined to break the record he shares with Eddy Merckx when he hit the front in the closing metres along the Garonne river bank but he was all but resigned to his fate once his mechanical issue had manifested itself. He could only watch in despair as Philipsen accelerated past him to win his third sprint in this year's Tour de France.
“By 30 or 40 metres to go, I’d already had to sit down and stand up again, my gears were jumping – 11, 12, 11, 12,” Cavendish explained. “It’s not belief then, it’s hope. It is what it is, but we’ll try again.”
Cavendish, who placed sixth and fifth in bunch sprints earlier in the week, came from a long way back to launch his sprint in Bordeaux. He was out of shot in the television as Mathieu van der Poel lead out the sprint but then kicked early on the right, only his gear issues slowing his progress.
He paid tribute to the work of teammate Cees Bol in the finale. The Dutchman had been set to join the doomed B&B Hotels team with Cavendish in the winter and he followed the Manxman to Astana.
“He was like an assassin, he just does what he needed to do,” Cavendish said.
“Cees is pretty amazing, he was the leading me up. If he has to start work earlier than the actual lead-out to get me in position, then he’ll do that. He did a perfect move to get me in the right wheels for the last k, and then it was just a case of timing when I jumped.”
Mathieu van der Poel again provided a powerful lead-out for Philipsen in the finale in Bordeaux and the green jersey delivered another rasping sprint. Philipsen moved across the road to get on Cavendish's wheel, bumping Girmay off his wheel and close to the barriers.
Girmay, his Intermarche team management and even Astana Qazaqstan manager Alexander Vinokourov protested to the UCI judges but after a long study of the sprint using the VAR video footage, Philipsen was confirmed as the stage winner.
“I’d imagine there might be a couple of teams putting protests in against Philipsen today anyway, but he didn’t impede me so there’s nothing wrong with that,” Cavendish said.
“He just came from the left to the right. But he didn’t impede me at all so it’s not for me to discuss.”
After talking about his sprint, Cavendish found some consolation with his family, holding his young daughters in his arms.
The next obvious chance for the sprinters will come on stage 11 to Moulins on Wednesday. Attacks from the likes of Wout Van Aert and Mads Pedersen are likely to make a peloton sprint unlikely on Saturday to Limoges.
In the final Tour of his career, Cavendish knows the importance of seizing any opportunity that comes his way.
“I’m bitterly disappointed, really majorly disappointed,” he said.
“But we’ll keep on trying, we saw an improvement in how the boys were.”
