Mark Cavendish completed a carefully calculated but painful battle for survival during stage 1 of the Tour de France from Florence to Rimini. Despite vomiting at the start and suffering in the extreme heat of the Italian summer, he managed to finish in the final gruppetto, alive to fight another day.
“I was looking at stars, it was so hard,” he admitted.
During most stages of the Tour de France, the focus is on the front of the race. Stage 1 also saw who suffered and dropped down from the peloton, even on the first climb, which was more than 160 kilometers from the finish, and then also in another series of climbs through the Apennines towards Rimini and the Adriatic coast.
Cavendish, who is hoping that Breaking the all-time record for Tour de France stage wins This year, he went through difficult circumstances with his teammates, and struggled to reach Rimini by the deadline.
He eventually finished the race with his leadout and teammate Michael Morkov. Cees Bol, Yevgeny Fedorov and Davide Ballerini. Unfortunately Michele Gazzoli failed to finish the stage. Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) was also part of the final gruppetto.
Cyclingnews Cavendish poured cold water over his head to try and recover from his effort, while quietly celebrating with his teammates for surviving the stage. He walked towards the Astana Kazakhstan team bus as the huge crowd chanted his name.
After resting for a while, he came out of the bus and explained how he survived the day. He then got ready to leave with his teammates and enjoyed a few moments in the ice water kept inside the team vehicle.
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“It was very hot, it affected a lot of people,” said Cavendish, who appeared to have partially recovered from his heavy effort.
“If your body is like mine now, don't start cycling because those days are gone,” he said of the discomfort he faced even in the hilly terrain of the Tour's first stage.
“But we know what we're doing – that doesn't mean it's easy. We're not walking around talking. It was very hard – it was very hard, but we had a plan and we stuck to it. I wanted to do another climb with the peloton, but I was looking at the stars, it was so hard.”
Cavendish and his Astana Kazakhstan team car were in control of their destiny, calculating and pacing their efforts on the series of climbs on the road towards Rimini.
“It's a bit boring, but that's the way cycling is,” Cavendish said, as many fans stood around the team bus, chanting his name and giving him support.
“It's a great story, but the time frame in it is not to take people out of the race, it's for when people get sick and injured and continue to race.”
Cavendish lived to fight another day and should have little trouble on Stage 2 to Bologna as the early roads were flat. His first chance to fight for victory is on the stage to Turin, where the first bunch sprint is expected.
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