Mark Cavendish pulled off a carefully calculated but painful fight for his life on the first stage of the Tour de France from Florence to Rimini. Despite vomiting early and suffering from the sweltering heat of the Italian summer, he managed to finish the stage in the last group to hold on for another day.
“I was seeing stars, it was very difficult,” he admitted.
During most of the Tour de France, the focus is on the front of the race. The first stage was also about who was struggling and falling out of the peloton, even on the first climb, more than 160 kilometres from the finish, and then on the other series of climbs through the Apennines towards Rimini and the Adriatic coast.
Cavendish, who hopes so Breaking the record for the most Tour de France stage wins This year, he fought his hard-fought battle surrounded by his teammates as they struggled to reach Rimini on time.
It eventually ended with Michael Murkoff leading him and his teammate. Cece Paul, Evgeny Fedorov, and David Ballerini. Unfortunately, Michele Gazzoli failed to finish the stage. Fabio Jacobsen (Dsm-firmenich PostNL) was also part of the final group.
Bicycle News Watch as Cavendish pours cold water over his head and tries to recover from his attempt while quietly celebrating his stay on stage with his team-mates. He rides towards the Astana Kazakhstan team bus amidst a huge crowd chanting his name.
After a brief moment of recovery, he got off the bus to explain how he survived the day. He then prepared to follow his teammates and enjoy a brief moment in an ice bath inside the team car.
“It was hot, and it affected a lot of people,” said Cavendish, who appeared to have at least partially recovered from the massive effort.
“If you have my body type now, don’t start cycling, because those days are over,” he said, referring to the struggle necessary even on the mountainous first stage of the Tour de France.
“But we know what we’re doing – that doesn’t mean it’s easy. We don’t go around talking. It was very difficult – it was very difficult, but we had a plan and we stuck to it. I would have loved to have stayed back with the peloton, but I was seeing stars, it was very difficult.”
Cavendish and his Team Astana Kazakhstan car were in control of their own destiny, calculating the pace of their efforts along the series of climbs on the road to Rimini.
“It’s a bit boring but that’s the way cycling has become,” Cavendish explained as many fans crowded around the team bus chanted his name and offered him support.
“It’s a nice story but the time limit isn’t there to keep people out of the race, it’s there for when people get sick and injured and keep going.”
Cavendish managed to hold on for another day, and is expected to have some problems on the second stage in Bologna due to the early flat roads. His first chance to fight for the win will be on the stage to Turin, when the first group of races is expected to start.
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