Mark Cavendish is out of the 2023 Tour de France after suffering a heavy fall on stage eight.
Cavendish was vying for further records in his final appearance on the Tour. He had narrowly missed out on a record-breaking 35th stage win earlier in the 2023 edition, and he ends up level with the legendary Eddy Merckx on 34.
The Brit, who turned 38 in May, was involved in a crash involving a number of riders during the eighth stage. During a lengthy and decorated cycling career, he twice finished with the green jersey after topping the Tour de France points classification in both 2011 and 2021.
“This race gives the most incredible emotions, but there's no room for sentimentality," Cavendish had said in the lead-up to the tour. "I know it's my last one but it's still the same – I have a job to do. You can appreciate the moments of sentiment later.
“If there’s a book of all the greats in cycling, I want my name in that book,” the Manx star told Eurosport. “That was what I wanted from my career - to be talked about in the same breath as those riders.
“I’m so lucky to be in this exclusive club of Tour de France stage winners. There’s not that many of us. For every day that I’ve raced the Tour de France, I’ve won one of every six stages. It’s different to everything else. It’s been my life, it’s been my career.”
A number of cycling fans have shared messages of support upon discovering Cavendish will almost certainly never claim that 35th win. The veteran was pipped by Jasper Phillipsen in Bordeaux and made clear his frustration after that near miss.
“I kicked a little earlier than I’d like, but once I kicked, the gears jumped from the 11 to the 12 and I had to sit down," he said. "Cadence just whacks up. Then it goes back to the 11th and I tried to stand up when I needed to sit down.
“There was nothing you could do – except kind of hope. I'm bitterly disappointed, majorly disappointed, but we keep on trying.”
After the news broke, some asked whether the Manx Missile might be convinced to go back on that 'final Tour' stance and return in 2024. Others, however, simply shared Cavendish's pain.
" Sad day," one fan wrote. "Seemed to be really enjoying it. Legend."
"He has to come back next year and finished [sic] the right way," a second wrote, while another said: "What a sad way to end his TDF career. We all felt for him I’m sure."
