Mark Cavendish to miss Tour de France, shot at breaking record

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Mark Cavendish was named as a Tour de France reserve for Staff Fast-Step Alpha Vinyl, that means he’s in line to overlook the Grand Tour that begins Friday and an opportunity to interrupt his tie with Eddy Merckx for essentially the most stage wins in Tour historical past.

Final yr, Cavendish returned to the Tour for the primary time since 2018 as a last-minute substitute, getting back from an Epstein-Barr virus analysis. Surprisingly, he gained 4 dash levels to tie the Belgian legend Merckx at 34 profession Tour stage victories.

Fast-Step Alpha Vinyl as an alternative tapped Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen, who gained 5 levels on the 2021 Vuelta a Espana and has 10 wins general this yr, to make his Tour debut this yr.

At 37, Cavendish is older than all however 4 males to win a stage in Tour historical past, according to ProCyclingStats.com. Subsequent yr, he might be older than all however two males to win a stage in Tour historical past.

Fast-Step Alpha Vinyl additionally left world street race champion Julian Alaphilippe off its Tour staff, saying he’s not one hundred pc recovered from an April 24 race crash.

Alaphilippe, who wore the Tour de France yellow jersey for 18 levels over the past three years, fractured a shoulder blade and two ribs, plus suffered a collapsed lung in a Liege-Bastogne-Liege crash.

“I’ve a pure affection for the race, from my days within the yellow jersey over the previous three seasons, my stage victories and plenty of different nice reminiscences with my teammates,” Alaphilippe said in a press release. “To overlook one other alternative to put on my stunning rainbow jersey in my house nation may be very unhappy for me and I knew that this determination could be troublesome for the staff to take. On the identical time, I utterly perceive this, as a result of I too don’t need to be at the beginning if I can’t be at my greatest stage.”

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