Mark Cavendish fighting to stay in Tour de France already after brutal first stage
29 June 2024 04:34
Sprinter hit by heatstroke and suffered from first climbBardet wins stage but host of big names also strugglingMark Cavendish is fighting for survival in the Tour de France after suffering from apparent heatstroke and vomiting during the brutal opening stage of the race, from Florence to Rimini. The British sprinter, riding his last Tour, somehow made it through the stage, aided by four of his teammates, but finished nearly 40 minutes down on stage winner, Romain Bardet, of France.The highly-regarded Bardet took the stage win and yellow jersey after attacking with dsm-firmenich PostNL team mate, Frank van den Broek, 40 kilometres from Rimini, on the climb of the Cote de Montemaggio. The duo entered the final 20km of racing with a 1min 30sec lead on the chasing peloton, but as the kilometres clicked down, their lead dwindled to a mere handful of seconds as they entered the final 1,000 metres. Continue readingread full article
