Mark Cavendish dropped as Tour de France swansong gets off to horror start – 'His body is saying no' - Eurosport

Struggling with illness, Cavendish faced difficulties in the scorching heat during the first stage.

Mark Cavendish, who rides for Astana Qazaqstan, struggled with illness in the scorching heat as he began his final Tour de France in Italy on a very bad note.

Four teammates went back to help, pouring water on him and putting ice packs in the back of his jersey, as the temperature soared to the mid-30s.

"This is more than the typical struggle we would anticipate from someone who is not a professional climber," stated Robbie McEwen, who has won 12 stages in his career, during his commentary on Eurosport.

It quickly became clear that Cavendish was having a difficult time, not just because of the tough conditions but also because he was seen vomiting on the road.

As the distance widened between him and the main group, Astana's priority changed to helping him reach the finish line in Rimini before the time limit.

But he was in such a bad state that the 39-year-old found it hard to keep pace on the downhills, which is usually when sprinters catch up to the main group of riders.

"I am so sad, my heart is really sad for Mark Cavendish and the team," expressed Dani Rowe, who achieved team pursuit gold for Team GB in the velodrome at the London 2012 Olympics.

I feel like crying, it's really bad. His body is resisting. You can see him getting sick while riding the bike. It's just terrible.

With 110 kilometers left in the first day of the race, Cavendish was more than seven minutes behind the main group of riders – and an additional four minutes behind the group that had broken away earlier.

Astana received additional unfortunate news on Saturday when Michele Gazzoli, who was part of Cavendish's quickly organized backup team, had to withdraw with 88km left in the race.

Sprinters will have their first chance to shine during Stage 3 of the Tour.