End of an era: Witnessing Mark Cavendish's last ever Tour de France sprint

The curtain has not quite fallen. The drama is still continuing, but it seems likely that Mark Cavendish has spoken his final lines in the greatest play of them all, the Tour de France.

It was not on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, as has happened every other time the Astana-Qazaqstan rider has ridden the Tour, but on a nondescript arterial road outside Nîmes where the Manxman slunk off into the shadows of stage left. There are still five more stages remaining at this race, but it is unlikely that the 39-year-old will challenge again. This was it, outside one of the 1,564 McDonald's restaurants in France.  

Cavendish finished 17th, but this doesn't matter. He broke the record he came here for almost a fortnight ago now. The only thing left is for him to finish his final Tour, something he will be fighting to do.

It all felt a bit weird in the end, watching the best ever male sprinter in history doing his thing for a final time on the grandest stage. He lost his lead-out man, Cees Bol, and was nowhere near challenging the day's winner, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). In the end, he rolled over the line, head hung low. Of course, he still sped past me at 250m to go at incredible pace, but it was nothing compared to the winner. It is momentous, it should feel special, but it ended like that.

Think about how long Cavendish has been doing this for, sprinting at the Tour de France. I was 11 when he first raced, 12 when he first won a stage, and I'm turning 30 next year. His career has spanned seven British Prime Ministers, and everything else that has happened in between. It is strange to imagine a peloton without him.

"Maybe a little bit [weird without him]," Alexander Kristoff, himself 37, and a veteran of 11 Tours, told Cycling Weekly. "He's been around for so long, and he's still competitive. It's a bit weird, but I don't think he'll look back on his career and regret anything. He has been world champion, he's won 35 stages here, and I'll rank him as the best sprinter ever in history, so he should be proud of what he has achieved."

It is hard to think of another British cyclist who cuts through as much with the public at large, who isn't just confined to the niche world of cycling. The Cavendish era is almost over, and we have to accept that now. The Cav fans were still out in force in Nîmes, even if win number 36 didn't happen.

"It's historic, because I think it will be a long time until we see something like this ever again," Daniel, from South Wales, said. "It's good that he's ending on his terms this year, compared to last year. There's the positive and happiness in that, but it's sad to see someone so iconic leaving the sport. 

"I think he's relatable," he explained when asked why he's so popular. "You see a lot of very media trained personalities throughout sport now, and they're encouraged to not say anything which is deemed controversial. Cav is very natural, he's very relatable to the average person. And coming from a working class background on the Isle of Man, that's relatable for most of the people in the UK."

Of course, it's not over yet. There are five tough stages, which includes three mountain-top finishes. Maybe that's why Mark Renshaw, his former lead-out man and now DS at Astana, did not seem overexcited at the finish.

"I think there are a lot of emotions to go," he said. "I think the emotions that we're going to have over the next five days to Nice will be much more than today's finish, because there's a lot of pain and a lot of suffering to come."

The man himself seemed relaxed and calm, perhaps even happy and chilled out, after one of the final turns of his storied career. 

"We came here, we did what we set out to achieve in this Tour de France," he explained to the waiting media. "We did it early on so we're happy, it's been successful. Obviously everything on top of the 35th stage would just be a bonus for us.

"I'm very fortunate to have such incredible people following and living my career with me, for the last however many years.."

It does not sound like Cavendish will be abandoning this Tour, and will fight to the end, however hard that gets: "Since I started the Tour de France I've celebrated riding the Tour, showing the Tour the respect it deserves, and I've had success," he continued.

"This race goes on, it's the greatest sporting event in the world every year, and now I can just watch the sprints at home. See what all these young kids are doing."

That's it. Cavendish retreats, takes a final bow, and waits for the other main characters to finish the scene. It has been quite the show.