British cycling great Mark Cavendish is out of the Tour de France after crashing during the race's eighth stage between Libourne and Limoges, France Saturday morning.
Cavendish, 38, fell off his bike with a little over 60 kilometers to go in the eighth of the race’s 21 stages. He laid on the pavement clutching his arm while several cyclists in the vicinity were forced to put on their brakes; he was eventually loaded into an ambulance before formally dropping out of the competition.
The legendary cyclist had indicated before the race that the 2023 Tour de France would be his last. Cavendish will end his career with 34 stage wins, tied with Eddy Merckx of Belgium for the most in race history.
Mark Cavendish's stage eight crash that forced him to abandon the Tour de France.#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/bjNYZWUzT8
— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSCycling) July 8, 2023
Cavendish never won cycling's flagship race, but did finish first in its points classification in 2011 and 2021. A four-time gold medalist across the sport's road and track world championships as well as a silver medalist in the 2016 Summer Olympics, Cavendish is widely considered one of the greatest and most versatile cyclists in history.
