Manx Missile drops away in final metres of Stage 16
There was no extended Tour de France history today for Mark Cavendish as he just missed out on a shot at a 36th stage win at the event this afternoon (16 July).
The 'Manx Missile' was in contention in the closing stages of stage 16 heading towards the finish in Nimes but dropped away from the final sprint with less than a kilometre to go to finish in 17th position.
Alpecin-Deceuninck's Jasper Philipsen took top spot with Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain Victorious and Alexander Kristoff of Uno-X Mobility completing the podium in second and third respectively.
The tour's GC leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) finished shortly after in 37th.
Today was expected to be Cavendish's last chance to add to his tour stage win record of 35 with the remaining five stages covering mountainous routes and finishing with a time trial from Monaco to Nice.
No matter what happens now though he will finish what is expected to be his final Tour de France campaign as its greatest stage winner of all-time, having beaten the previous record of 34 set by Eddie Merkcx back on stage five on 3 July.
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