Cavendish claimed his 30th Tour de France stage victory and fourth in this year’s race in Saturday’s 14th stage but he will not now be starting stage 17 on Wednesday.
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Britain’s Mark Cavendish has pulled out of the Tour de France to manage his workload ahead of the Rio Olympics, his Dimension Data team said in a statement on Tuesday. “Best of luck in Rio, Mark!” the Tour de France tweeted.
As well as enjoying four stage wins, Cavendish also wore the overall leader’s yellow jersey for the first time and carried the green jersey for the points classification into the first rest day in Andorra.
Sunday’s final stage, which features the Tour’s famed sprint finish on the Champs-Elysees, is a flat route that could have likely offered Cavendish, who won it four times in succession between 2009 and 2012, an opportunity to add another €11,000 to his Tour pay packet and pull closer to Merckx’s record.
Following his day in yellow an Olympic gold – or medal of any colour – is the one thing missing from Cavendish’s glittering palmares.
“It has been an incredibly tough two weeks of racing at the Tour de France and Rohan has been an asset to the team, both with his fifth place in the first time trial, and working in support of our leaders throughout the race”, said his BMC Racing sports director Yvon Ledanois.
‘To leave a race and organisation that I hold so much respect for and a team that I have such a special bond with, has not been an easy decision at all’.
Cavendish will now recuperate before joining up with the British track team at their pre-Rio holding camp in Newport.
Dimension Data team principal Doug Ryder said: “Mark is really sad to leave the Tour”.
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Cavendish’s departure from the Tour de France has been speculated about since early in the race, given that the omnium event in the Olympics is his major goal for the year.
