The 2024 Tour de France was only one hour old when Mark Cavendish was already in trouble. He had come here to create more history, to win a record 35th stage, but the heat, the humidity and the viscous climbs in the Italian Apennines were combining to make his day hell. There were fears, genuine and not overexaggerated, that the 39-year-old would miss the time cut on the very first day. That was not in the script.
As the hours slowly passed, and he and his Astana-Qazaqstan team slowly ticked off each of the seven climbs, the prognostic improved, and he eventually crossed the line almost 40 minutes behind the stage winner Romain Bardet, but crucially 10 minutes ahead of the time cut.
