During the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, Mark Cavendish seemed to be experiencing stomach and heat-related problems. In the race that counts as the biggest in cycling, he came very close to breaking a tie with Eddy Merckx for the most career stage wins, just missing the cutoff time.
On the first climb, the second-category Col de Valico Tre Faggi, Cavendish vomited while riding his bike and fell behind the pack. Four colleagues from Astana then came back to support the British rider.
Despite this, Cavendish persevered and placed 174th out of 175 cyclists who finished the stage. He finished 39 minutes and 12 seconds after Romain Bardet, the stage winner.
During the 2021 Tour, Cavendish tied Merckx’s record of 34 stage victories, and on the seventh stage of 2023, he nearly tied the record with a 35th. Then, a year ago, he broke his right collarbone in a crash during the eighth stage. Therefore, Cavendish, 39, decided to postpone retirement for a year in order to return and attempt to break his tie with Merckx once more.
On the first day, when the temperature reached 36 degrees (97 F), heat was another concern. In an attempt to cool Cavendish down, teammates poured water over his head. Subsequently, Cavendish regurgitated twice: once on the ascent and once during the descent.
After barely making it through the first two stages, Cavendish—who won his first Tour stage back in 2008—was going for the record in Monday’s third leg, the first flat stage that is ideal for sprinters. Later in the race, there are a few more flat stages.
One of the riders who retreated to assist Cavendish, Tour rookie Michele Gazzoli, pulled out of the race halfway through the stage, making it a difficult day for the Astana team as a whole.
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