Mark Cavendish smiling at the end of brutal Tour de France day - "Makes a nice story"

Cav is in a bit of a weird place right now. Obviously struggling very much but insisting he’s controlling the pace with respect to the cut-off time?

Firstly, he can’t know how much time he’ll have until pretty much the end of the winner’s race (max an hour before to speculate because average speed can still go up quite a bit as the race heats up. At that moment, he still needs to know he’ll have the reserves to speed up if needed which can’t be so easy if you’re struggling since the start.

No idea how he’ll manage the Galibier if the climbers and GC guys decide to go full out so let us forget about the rest of the Tour for now until he makes it past day 4.

That leaves day 3 as his best chance for a stage but how is he going to recover so fast and well after knackering himself on these two days? Is he just bluffing, playing with everyone or what’s his magic potion? Will people be as suspicious of him if he suddenly finds his best form?

In the very first stage, Within a very short time, he was the only one puking. I think this is stomach issues but the heat and the climbs would not have made it easier. He will be out of the next couple of stages to recover. At first i though he would be out but determination and full support from the team and he had a car with him, he managed to get through

Cav will be lucky to see 10 stages of this tour. He's not in any kind of tour shape ! 39 yrs of age doesn't lie... just ask Father Time !

Good on Cav, when I saw him throw up I was afraid it could have been viral, thankfully it's not.

There's nothing like puking your guts out to give you a clear perspective on things.

He'll come out soon enough and live up to his nickname: Manx Missile. Give him a massage and a day in the pack, and he'll be off.