There were rumours that Mark Cavendish participated in his last Tour de France after QuickStep-AlphaVinyl unexpectedly excluded him from the competition.
Cavendish expressed his sadness over the choice, saying that he had hoped to “write more history” by participating.
The 38-year-old British player joined Astana, Qazaqstan, after leaving his previous team when his contract expired and becoming a free agent at the beginning of this year.
Is Cavendish competing in the biggest cycling event of the year? Details can be found in the Sporting News.
Cavendish will be competing in the Tour de France 2023, which begins on July 1, Astana, Qazaqstan, announced on June 26.
With the intention of creating history by winning at least one stage, Cavendish, who will retire at the end of the season, set out on his fourteenth tour.
With a 35th stage victory at the race, Doing would surpass Belgian rider Eddy Merckx as the overall record holder. Merckx accumulated his victories between 1969 and 1975.
Regretfully, it was not meant to be. In the seventh stage, Cavendish narrowly missed victory as Jasper Philipsen, the leader of the Points Classification, beat him.
When Cavendish crashed 60 kilometres from the finish of Stage 8 to Limoges, heartbreak ensued. The veteran, who had been injured during his final Tour, left the scene in one of the race ambulances, his arm in a sling.
His teammate Gianni Moscon stated, “We were in the back of the peloton just after the first climb of the day and there was a crash in front of us.” Cav had to apply full brakes, and he collided with the man in front of him’s back wheel, going down.
It was really awful. Moscon continued, “I stayed with him to see how he was, but he was really suffering. “There wasn’t much to say, really. I made an effort to assist him in returning to the race, but he was forced to withdraw.
