SIERRA NEVADA, Spain, (Reuters) – British sprinter Mark Cavendish pulled out of the Tour of Spain with around 60 kms remaining in yesterday’s fourth stage.
Cavendish, who won the Tour de France’s green jersey in July, had lost time on the main peloton on all the stages so far in the race and on Monday his team said he was suffering badly in the extremely hot weather.
He is the second HTC-Highroad rider to quit after Australian Matt Goss abandoned on stage one.
“He’s not ill, he had no power left in his body and he was totally empty,” Cavendish’s sports director Jens Zemke told Reuters. “He was dropped on a climb and so far from the finish, he had no chance to survive.
By contrast Bradley Wiggins, Britain’s first winner of the Tour de France points jersey this year, enjoyed a successful day. Wiggins had previously described the 23 kms final climb of Sierra Nevada as the first big test of his battle for a high general classification placing in Madrid.
After his Sky team had led the pack in the final segment of climbing, the 31-year-old Londoner finished comfortably with all the main contenders, 11 seconds down on stage winner Daniel Moreno.
