08 July 2023 , 16:31
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Ushered dolefully into the back of an ambulance, Mark Cavendish crashed out of his farewell Tour de France after being dealt an impossibly cruel hand.
Just 24 hours after he was left “devastated” after being denied a record 35th career stage win, pipped on the line by Jasper Philipsen, the Manx missile's bid for sprint immortality ended in the pain of a broken collarbone.
So Cavendish, who announced he will retire at the end of the season, is now destined to remain tied on 34 stage wins with Eddy Merckx when the credits roll.
This is the seventh time that Cavendish, 38, has failed to reach Paris after setting off with the peloton on the three-week odyssey towards the Champs-Elysees.
He has encountered wretched luck before, notably crashing in his mother's home town, Harrogate, when the Grand Depart converted Yorkshire into a reet grand velodrome in 2014.
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And he suffered a similar fate in Vittel three years later, when a close encounter with crash barriers on the final sprint ended his race.
Yet rarely, if ever, has sporting royalty been bundled off the stage so brutally by such a conspiracy of providence.
Cavendish could just about accept the “bitter disappointment” of missing his date with history in Bordeaux on Friday when a mechanical blip undermined his kick for glory 200 yards from the line.
But the final curtain was not supposed to fall with his right arm in a sling and the anguish of an assignment cut short etched across his brow.
The Brit was aiming to break the record for stage wins having previously equalled it (AP)And when the end came, 38 miles from the finish of a 125-mile trek from Libourne to Limoges on stage eight, it was on such an innocuous stretch of road.
Loitering near the back of the peloton, which had slowed for no obvious reason, a touch of wheels sent the Isle of Man legend down – and immediately it was clear that Cavendish's injury was more than gravel rash.
Within minutes it was confirmed that he was abandoning the race, and a generation of cycling aficionados shared his pain. It was not supposed to end like this.
By winning four stages in the 2021 edition, and drawing level with Merckx, Cavendish had laid the groundwork for one of sport's greatest encores.
He was not consumed by the incentive of a 35th stage win, but he was enthused by the prospect of an extended lap of honour as he soaked up the adulation from roadside galleries.