Mark Cavendish vomiting, suffering in heat on Tour de France opener

Mark Cavendish’s quest to break the all-time record for Tour de France stage wins got off to a terrible start on stage 1, with the Astana rider being dropped on the first climb of the day, suffering in the Italian heat and vomiting while riding well behind the peloton.

Cavendish wasn’t meant to be a contender for the opening two stages of the Tour de France, with punchy Italian roads not suiting his spriting characteristics, however, he wouldn’t have expected to drop out of the peloton with more than 160 kilometres still to go before the finish in Rimini.