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RIMINI, Italy (Velo) – Stage one of many 2024 Tour de France was by no means going to be a simple one for Mark Cavendish, with over 3,600 meters of elevation and 7 categorized climbs on a saw-blade route between Florence and Rimini.
However when the Astana Qazaqstan Group chief was dropped on the day’s very first climb, the Colle delle Faggi, vomited and fell 5 minutes behind the peloton, there was comprehensible worry of the worst.
The game’s most prolific sprinter seemed to be at risk of lacking the time lower or being compelled to desert earlier than he might flip a pedal competitively in a bunch dash, not to mention end a stage.
That, after his damaged collarbone in Bordeaux on his first retirement Tour 12 months in the past, this was going to be one other fairytale story quickly turned evil, one other busted flush of a Tour. Absolutely not once more?
Nonetheless, you don’t win 34 levels within the Tour de France with out having immense energy, resilience and expertise, and Cavendish had to attract on all these qualities to get by means of the day and ensure he stays within the hunt for a record-making quantity 35.
Because the stage progressed, Cavendish and his 4 Astana teammates Bol, Ballerini, Fedorov and Mørkov rode a gradual tempo, hoovering up a gaggle with Jonas Rickaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck), plus Group DSM-Firmenich postNL pair Fabio Jakobsen and Bram Welten.
It was sizzling and exhausting going within the Emilia-Romagna hills, but it surely grew to become clear that whereas Cavendish was dropping time, it was not going to cease his Tour journey.
After 160 kilometers off the again of the race, he arrived in Rimini a shade over 39 minutes behind winner Romain Bardet, nonetheless shepherded the final meters into the workforce bus by trusty lead-out man Michael Mørkov. The massive query was, was he struggling with an sickness or from cauldron-like temperatures which touched over 97F?
“I feel it was simply the warmth,” he advised media exterior his workforce bus after the end. “It’s not straightforward. I all the time say: should you’ve bought my physique sort now, don’t begin biking as a result of them (sic) days have gone. However we all know what we’re doing.”
“That was so exhausting, however we had a plan and we struck to it. I might have preferred to remain yet one more climb with the peloton however I used to be seeing stars, it was so sizzling. However I’m glad we made it by means of okay, and on to stage two.”
Cavendish lives to struggle one other day and went into extra element on how he and his team-mates make calculations to make sure they aren’t going residence, ending behind the time lower.
“We don’t go straightforward to try this. You possibly can work out what the entrance guys are gonna do,” he mentioned. “And you then work out what you are able to do, what it’s essential to do to get contained in the time restrict on every climb. It’s a bit boring, however that’s the way in which biking’s gone. It makes a pleasant story should you’re near the time hole, however the time restrict isn’t actually there to place individuals out of the race, it’s there when persons are sick and injured, truthful sufficient.”
“Preserve scrapping, Mark!” shouted a British fan from the throng gathered round him as his interview wound down. That’s a certainty.
🇮🇹🇫🇷 RACE: @LeTour
Effectively, it was not the beginning of the race we have been anticipating for, however 7 our riders, together with @MarkCavendish all completed the stage contained in the time lower. #TDF2024 #AstanaQazaqstanTeam
— Astana Qazaqstan Group (@AstanaQazTeam) June 29, 2024
Nonetheless, Cavendish was dealt a blow to his hopes for a bunch dash stage win as teammate Michele Gazzoli deserted, turning into the race’s first DNF. “I hope he’s all proper,” he mentioned of the younger Italian. In line with workforce supervisor Alexandre Vinokourov, the younger Italian endured heatstroke within the sweltering circumstances.
Whereas it appeared that one thing is likely to be remiss with Cavendish’s well being, chatting with Velo, Vinokourov confirmed that Cavendish is “not sick. I knew it was going to be a tricky stage for Mark to outlive, not his form of day. He calculated the watts and the space, and we did every little thing as anticipated.”
The Tour’s first bunch dash alternative ought to come on stage 3 into Turin, however Sunday’s second day of the Tour is one other one for gruppetto groveling for Cavendish and his fellow sprinters, with over 1,900 meters and two late ascensions of the San Luca earlier than a end in Bologna.
Does Vinokourov have any worries for Cavendish for tomorrow’s stage? “Tomorrow’s one other day, we’ve got to take it day-to-day. He has to get better at the moment, we’ve got already fastened our aim, our goal. and we work on that,” he mentioned.