The Danish professional cyclist Mads Pedersen has won the eighth stage of the 110th Tour de France. After 200.7 km in Limoges, the 27-year-old from Team Lidl-Trek prevailed in a mass sprint against Belgian Jasper Philipsen, who narrowly missed out on his fourth stage win. Phil Bauhaus (Bocholt) from Team Bahrain-Victorious had nothing to do with the front places. Click here for the daily result and the overall ranking.
Mark Cavendish had just sat blank-eyed in a minibus on a country road in the Dordogne. The dream of climbing to the sole record stage winner of the Tour de France was probably shattered due to carelessness about 60 kilometers before the finish of the eighth stage. The 38-year-old fell with the Spaniard Pello Bilbao and apparently sustained a shoulder injury, the first examination revealed a broken collarbone. The doctor on the tour immediately put a bandage on the Briton, and the creaky tour radio reported: “Cavendish abandon” – Cavendish gives up. Instead of continuing to hope for the 35th stage victory, it went to the X-ray.
“It breaks my heart,” wrote Marcel Kittel on Twitter. The Thuringian is the German record holder with 14 daily successes and is a TV expert on the tour. Cavendish announced in May that he would retire at the end of the year. The ex-world champion wanted to win his 35th stage on his 14th and last tour. He would have surpassed Eddy Merckx, with whom he is currently tied in first place with 34 day successes.
“Incredible, it’s really a tragedy,” said German professional cyclist Georg Zimmermann. Cavendish has proven that he can outperform Merckx: “It’s very sad.” Nikias Arndt saw it that way: “I would have given him the record.”
On Friday in Bordeaux, Cavendish was close to victory in front of his family, but a problem with the gearshift meant he had to let Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen pass him. For his big goal, Cavendish had changed teams again before the season. Since he did not get a new contract with QuickStep and had overwhelming competition in Fabio Jakobsen, he signed with Astana.
His last tour was all about the record. “I will regret not being able to enjoy the moment and the whole tour experience, but I have a job to do,” said the Isle of Man professional.
The sprinter’s tour history was characterized by great successes, but also by falls and setbacks. In 2014 he fell on the first stage of the Grand Départ in Yorkshire, three years later Peter Sagan took him out of the race with a dangerous maneuver in a bunch sprint. In 2018 Cavendish fell out of the time limit in the mountains, in the following two years he missed the tour and in 2020 he was close to the end of his career.
However, QuickStep boss Patrick Lefevere offered him a minimum-wage contract. Cavendish hit it and was surprisingly nominated for the 2021 tour due to Irish Sam Bennett’s poor form. There the Briton amazed as in the best of times, winning four stages and the green jersey. At the end of May he won the last stage of the Giro and increased his winnings to 162 successes. It is questionable whether more will be added.