Astana's Mark Cavendish got off to the worst possible start on the first stage of his bid to break the Tour de France stage win record. He fell on the day's first climb, suffered from the Italian heat, and vomited while riding well behind the peloton.

Cavendish was no contender for the opening two stages of the Tour de France. The punchy Italian roads did not suit his sprinting characteristics. But with more than 160 km still to go before the finish in Rimini, he would not have expected to be dropped from the peloton.

At the 12.5km Col de Varico Tre Faggi, the day's breakaway was gone, and far from a hellish pace, Cavendish was seen being doused. Temperatures at the start were over 37°C, and ice vests and spare water bottles were distributed to all teams.

Cavendish showed no signs of recovery and fell further down the order, and his Astana Kazakstan teammate was seen vomiting several times.

His team did not comment when asked by Eurosport's Jens Voigt what had happened to Cavendish, but it appeared to be a stomach upset rather than heatstroke.

The gap between Cavendish and his would-be sprint train of Cees Bol, Davide Ballerini, Michael Morkov, and Michele Gazzoli was over 10 minutes behind the peloton.

The good news for Cavendish was the addition of teammates Fabio Jacobsen and Bram Welten (DSM-Firmenich-Post NL) and Jonas Rickert (Alpecin-Desseuninck), making the five-man group bigger.

Cavendish, 39, will be competing in his 15th Tour de France in 2024, looking for his historic 35th stage win.

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