Mark Cavendish Battles Tough Start

Mark Cavendish faced a challenging start at the Tour de France as Romain Bardet claimed the yellow jersey following a thrilling finale in Rimini. Bardet and his DSM-Firmenich-PostNL teammate Frank van den Broek managed to hold off a strong group, including all major general classification contenders, to secure victory by five seconds. The duo broke away approximately 40km from the finish of the 206km stage from Florence. Meanwhile, Cavendish and his Astana-Qazaqstan teammates struggled on the final climb to San Marino with Cavendish finishing over 39 minutes behind and narrowly within the elimination time.

Reflecting on his tough day, Mark Cavendish told Eurosport, “That was incredibly difficult, but we stuck to our plan. I would have liked another climb with the peloton, but it was tough going.” The 39-year-old, who postponed retirement to chase the Tour de France stage win record of 34, shared with Eddy Merckx, faced immediate difficulty on the opening climb of the first-ever Italian Grand Depart. The stage featured over 3,600m of climbing across seven categorized ascents, pushing riders to their limits.

Stage two on Sunday spans 199.2km through the undulating terrain of Emilia-Romagna, starting from Cesenatico and finishing in Bologna. The route presents another demanding test for cyclists, featuring varied landscapes that will challenge the peloton’s endurance and strategic planning.