Mark Cavendish's chances to win at Tour de France end, but Manxman wants to go out in style: "Now we are trying to get to Nice"

Mark Cavendish was emotional this morning at the start of stage 16, having been asked about his feelings on what should be his final ever Tour de France sprint. A day where the wind was ultimately not consequential, it gave opportunity to all sprinters to battle it out one last time this summer but Cavendish at the end could not do it. He is planning however to complete his final Tour and reach Nice this Sunday.

"We were well positioned, but in the end we lost the positions on one of those roundabouts. That's how it goes," Cavendish said in an interview with ITV Sports. "Everyone wanted to be at the front at the same time, but there is only limited space there. We have achieved our goal in this Tour and now we are trying to get to Nice, with the necessary spirit."

The veteran only truly sprinted twice this race, one of them being stage 5 where he broke the record for stage wins in the race, and the other was stage 12 where he sprinted to a place among the Top10 but was then relegated. He managed to barely survive the brutal stage 15 much to the hard work of his team, and has reached the final week of the Tour. Now, he has three more mountain stages, a day in the hills and a final time-trial from Monaco to Nice left to go.