Cavendish unsurprisingly winner for his last race

In a well-written show, with a breakaway from Thomas De Gendt rewarded with the combativeness prize, with Biniam Girmay who made the intermediate sprints to win the classification by points, as in the Tour de France, and with this sprint which saw the Belgian champion Arnaud De Lie placed third, just behind Jasper Philipsen, the outgoing winner. And Mark Cavendish, then.

Very moved in the midst of a public won over to his cause in this former British colony. “I was a little nervous, I was afraid of falling, I really didn’t want to fall, I wanted to finish my last racehe commented. It was special in the last laps to tell myself that I was cycling the last fifteen kilometers of my career, to cross a red flame for the last time as a runner. But hey, I was also a little on the limit at that time…”

If not “only one” criterium, this event was contested at a very high tempo. In heavy heat. “Not the weather I prefer, I always suffer from itadds Mark Cavendish. “So it wasn’t easy, but my guys from Astana controlled the race well and took me well. In the sprint, I felt Arnaud De Lie coming up and I saw myself catching up with Jasper Philipsen. To win one last time is a great joy.”

Cavendish’s Last Dance