Tour drama about Mark Cavendish
The superstar career should not end so bitterly
07/09/2023 10:18 am
Mark Cavendish competes in the Tour de France to become the sole Tour of France record holder with his 35th stage win. But the project fails bitterly: Cavendish falls and has to give up. His team now wants to persuade him to continue.
The Astana cycling team wants to persuade veteran star Mark Cavendish, who retired after a fall in the Tour de France, to continue his career. “Yes, we want Mark to be able to continue in 2024 and compete in his 15th Tour de France to win his 35th stage,” said team boss Alexander Vinokurov of the French sports newspaper “L’Equipe”.
Cavendish suffered a broken collarbone in a crash on stage eight on Saturday and was forced to retire. This also burst his dream of a record stage win, which would have left the legend Eddy Merckx behind for good. Both lead the list with 34 successes each. At the end of the season, the 38-year-old former world champion Cavendish actually wants to end his career.
“I broke my thigh on the Tour myself in 2011, it was supposed to be my last year. But I didn’t want to stop like that. I extended and fought to win the London Olympics the following year,” added Vinokurov, who won the 2012 Olympic Games even won gold in the Olympic road race before Buckingham Palace. “Mark has the same spirit, the same will to achieve his ultimate goal. We are ready to give him that opportunity. But he will decide.”
Cavendish had shown old class on the tour this year. In Bordeaux, the Brit missed victory by a hair’s breadth on Friday when he was sprinted over by triple winner Jasper Philipsen after problems with the gearshift. He also managed to win a stage at the Giro d’Italia this year. It was also his 162nd professional win, only Merckx has more successes (275). “He’s the best sprinter in Tour history,” said Christian Prudhomme, head of organization for the Tour of France about Cavendish.