Gear problems stifle Mark Cavendish’s shot at 35th Tour de France stage win

For a moment, it looked like it was happening - that it wasn’t a drill. Mark Cavendish was out in open road, finish line approaching, history beckoning.

In the end, it was over almost as quickly as the pulse had risen, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) hopping into the Manxman’s slipstream and sailing clear to collect his third victory of the Tour de France.

Cavendish, emerging from the Astana Qazaqstan bus after a shower, was devastated. The convincing margin of victory might ordinarily have ruled out any real sense of regret, but he revealed that he had been hampered by gearing problems.

“Once I kicked, I started, my gears jumped from the 11 to the 12,” he said, explaining how he’d been been forced from his biggest sprinting gear into the next, easier, one up.

“I had to sit down, and the cadence just whacks up, then it goes back to the 11, I try to stand up again then back to the 12, then you sit down… there’s nothing you can do, except kind of hope.”

We’ll never know if that mechanical problem was the difference, but it was pretty clear how Cavendish felt about it.

“I’m bitterly disappointed there, like, really majorly disappointed,” he said.

There was hope for a last-gasp reprieve in the Astana camp, as officials reviewed footage of Philipsen’s sideways movement into Cavendish’s wheel, which appeared to hinder third-placed Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty). However, despite Astana manager Alexandre Vinokourov and his Intermarché counterpart lodging a protest in the video referee’s truck, the result stood.

“I said ‘he has to be relegated’,” Vinokourov said. “The rules say that in the last 200 metres you have to go straight."

Cavendish had appeared out of the picture - at least out of the overhead camera frame - on the narrow run-in to Bordeaux, scene of his 14th Tour de France stage win 13 years ago. However, he came roaring up the right-hand side of the road and, keen to seize the initiative after Tuesday’s missed opportunity, used his momentum to shoot out in front.

As he did so, with around 200 metres to go, he rode awkwardly over a speed bump, which may well have caused the chain issue that forced him to sit down just as Philipsen had moved into his slipstream. He never recovered, and dipped his head as he crossed the line.

“I was in quite a good position. It looked like I was far back but I was okay in where I wanted to be,” Cavendish said.

“I knew it was a long straight finish. Cees [Bol] was moving me up with good speed into the last kilometre, I was on the right wheels, and yeah, I kicked a little earlier than I’d have liked, but actually, still about the same time as I did in 2010,” he added, before explaining the chain issues.

“What can I do? I’m sorry I can’t be a little bit more positive about it. I’m a bit disappointed.”

After fifth and sixth-place finishes in the two sprints prior to Bordeaux, Cavendish could take heart from the fact that victory, for a split-second, was within his grasp. More opportunities lie ahead and, correctly geared, he has shown he is well in the hunt.

“We keep on trying,” Cavendish. said. “Again, we saw an improvement with how the boys were, so we can be positive."