Cavendish yells at mechanic, then apologizes, for bike incident
The green jersey had some words of frustration and a storm-off before the start of stage 19.
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Libourne, France (AFP) – Mark Cavendish on Friday apologized to his mechanics for a Tour de France strop after video emerged of him complaining about his bike before storming off to the team bus.
Footage showed the 36-year-old British sprinter checking out the feel of the front end of his bike before yelling at his team mechanic and slamming his front wheel into the ground before the start of the 19th stage from Mourenx and Libourne.
Det klikket for Mark Cavendish før dagens etappe i Tour de France… 😳😠 pic.twitter.com/gxBYYn09yW
— TV 2 Sport (@tv2sport) July 16, 2021
“During a day of the Tour de France, as riders we are put in a perilous situation and I wanted my bike to be perfect, in order to help me stay safe,” he wrote on Instagram later Friday.
“My bike had some problems when I got on it this morning. Despite this, I should not have reacted in the way that I did and not so publicly,” he wrote. “I’ve been extremely close friends with my mechanics for over a decade and they’ve worked tirelessly to ensure I’ve always been safe and successful. Although they know how short I can be when I’m stressed, no one, especially those you care about, deserve to have a voice raised to them.”
Also read: What Mark Cavendish and gear experts say about his chain coming off
Cavendish would have set a new record of 35 Tour de France stage wins with his fifth win on the 2021 edition on Friday. He had already equalled Eddy Merckx’s 46-year-old record of 34 stage wins. But an early mass fall and lack of will from other teams to stop a breakaway allowed a large group to build up a big lead over the main pack.
“I still have Paris,” he said of Sunday’s sprint finish on the Champs-Elysees. “And I still have the jersey,” he said as he stepped down from the awards ceremony in the sprint points leader’s green tunic.
Cavendish was a late inclusion on the Deceuninck team roster but has won four stages on the 2021 Tour with a fifth possible on Sunday when the race winds up in the French capital.