RIMINI, Italy (AP) — Mark Cavendish gave the impression to be combating abdomen and warmth points in the course of the opening stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, placing in danger his pursuit of breaking a tie with Eddy Merckx for essentially the most profession stage wins in biking’s largest race.
Vomiting whereas on his bike, Cavendish dropped behind the pack on the very first climb, the second-category Col de Valico Tre Faggi, and 4 Astana teammates dropped again to assist the British rider.
Cavendish equaled Merckx’s mark of 34 stage wins in the course of the 2021 Tour and went near successful a thirty fifth within the seventh stage in 2023. He crashed in the course of the eighth stage final 12 months, breaking his proper collarbone. The 39-year-old Cavendish then postpone retirement by a 12 months to come back again to the Tour and take a look at once more at breaking his tie with Merckx.
The 206-kilometer (128-mile) route from Florence to the Adriatic coastal resort of Rimini marked one of many hardest Tour begins in current reminiscence, that includes seven categorized climbs and greater than 3,600 meters (11,800 ft) of ascending.
Warmth was additionally an element on the opening day, with the temperature hovering to 36 levels Celsius (97 Fahrenheit). Teammates dumped water over Cavendish’s head to try to cool him down. Then Cavendish vomited twice, as soon as close to the highest of the opening climb and once more on the descent.
Cavendish was almost 10 minutes behind the leaders after the opening two climbs and can probably want to complete inside an hour of the winner to keep away from a cutoff that may finish his Tour.
Cavendish, who received his first Tour stage method again in 2008, was simply hoping to get by within the opening two levels earlier than aiming for the report in Monday’s third leg, the primary flat stage that units up effectively for sprinters. There’s one other handful of flat levels later within the race.
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