Mark Cavendish Narrowly Misses the Win in Stage 7 Due to a Mechanical
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
If any of you weren’t screaming at your computer or TV for Cav in the sprint finish during stage seven, we’re not friends. Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) fell just short of winning his 35th stage—the record for career Tour de France stage wins—when he was out pedaled by Jasper Phillipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). And while it’s easy to chalk a narrow miss up to mechanical error, this seems legit.
In the video of the sprint finish, Cavendish can easily be seen standing, and then returning to his saddle—pretty clear evidence that something was off with his gearing. It’s no secret what’s on the line. With every flat stage, Cavendish is obviously giving it his all. To come this close and have a mechanical problem really stings.
Cavendish currently shares the record for career Tour de France stage wins with Eddy Merckx—at 34.
After the stage, Cavendish explained that he couldn’t control his gearing. CyclingNews reports that he said, “I jumped when I wanted to but unfortunately, I had a problem with my gears when I was sprinting.”
“[The chain] went from the 11 to the 12, and I had to sit down to get back to the 11. I stood up and it went back to the 12, so I’m pretty devastated actually. The boys did a good job. It was one of those situations where it’s not meant to be.”
Bicycling Test Editor Dan Chabanov said of the gearing error, “In a Tour de France sprint, everything is at the absolute limit. That kind of power being put through the drive train is the definition of edge case use scenario. Something as minor as one adjustment in the drivetrain being even just a fraction off would not be noticed 99.99999% of the time, but could cause a miss shift in that situation.”
In a post-race interview, Phillipsen said, “He [Cavendish] was really strong. I would also have loved to see him win, I think everybody [would].” Phillipsen has now won all three sprint stages, making the green jersey more and more likely to stay on his shoulders.
The next flat stage comes next Wednesday, when riders take on the 179.8 km route from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins. We’ll just have to wait to see what Cavendish can do. As he put it, “It is what it is, but we’ll try again.”
You Might Also Like
