Mark Cavendish (Astana-Cazakstan) fell just short of recording his 35th stage win in the Tour de France when he was passed by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Desseuninck) in a group sprint in Bordeaux on stage 7.

The Manxman took the lead with 100 meters to go, but was overtaken by Philipsen, with Cavendish finishing second.

According to data provided by NTT, the official technology partner of the Tour de France, Cavendish recorded a speed of 74.7km/h with 300m to go, the fastest of the sprinters in this stage, despite suffering a minor mechanical problem.

Boldly, he dropped a few points.

A disappointed Cavendish later explained that he had a gear problem during the sprint, causing his chain to jump between the 11th and 12th sprockets.

Cavendish was grumpy when he arrived at the Astana Kazakstan team bus, but he quickly went inside to recover, watched the sprint again, and realized how close he was to victory.

His family was waiting for him at the front of the bus. Having traveled all the way to Bordeaux, he felt this was his last Tour de France and his best chance to win and break the record.

"I flew when I wanted to fly, but unfortunately I had gear problems during the sprint," Cavendish said after the race.

"I went from 11th to 12th and had to sit down to get back to 11th. I got up and went back to 12th, so I'm pretty shocked. The players did a good job. The players did a good job.

Cavendish seemed destined to break the record he shared with Eddy Merckx when he took the lead with a few meters remaining along the banks of the Garonne River, but he had to resign himself to his fate when a mechanical problem manifested itself. However, he had no choice but to resign himself to his fate once the mechanical trouble manifested itself. When Philipsen accelerated past him and won his third sprint in this year's Tour de France, he could do nothing but despair.

"With 30 or 40 meters to go, I already had to sit down or stand up," he said. 'It's not belief, it's hope. But I'll try again."

Cavendish, who finished sixth and fifth in the bunch sprint earlier in the week, came from far back to set up the sprint in Bordeaux. With Mathieu Van der Pol leading the sprint on television, Cavendish was unable to start his sprint.

He paid tribute to the work of his teammate Cees Bol in the finale. The Dutchman, who was set to join the doomed B&B Hotels team with Cavendish in the winter, followed the Manxman to Astana.

"He was like an assassin, just doing what he had to do," Cavendish said.

"Cisse was great, he guided me. If he had to start working earlier than the actual lead-out to get me in position, he would. He made the perfect move to put me in the right position in the last kilometer.

In the Bordeaux finale, Mathieu van der Pol again provided a strong leadout for Philipsen. Philipsen crossed the road to steer Cavendish and then took Gilmey off the steering wheel and drove him close to the barriers.

Girmay, his Intermarché team management, and even Astana Kazakstan manager Alexandre Vinokurov protested to the UCI judges, but after an extended investigation of the sprint using VAR video footage, Philipsen was confirmed as the stage winner.

"In any case, there might have been a few teams protesting against Philipsen today, but he didn't interfere with me so there is nothing wrong," Cavendish said.

"He just came from left to right. He just came from left to right. But he didn't interfere with me, so it's not my problem." "

After talking about the sprint, Cavendish found solace for his family, holding his young daughters in his arms.

Next up for the sprinters is the 11th stage to Moulin on Wednesday. Attacks by Wout Van Aert, Mads Pedersen, and others make a peloton sprint to Limoges on Saturday unlikely.

In the last Tour of his career, Cavendish knows the importance of seizing any opportunity.

"It's frustrating, really frustrating.

"But we'll keep trying.