‘Fantastic move!’ – Mark Cavendish celebrates with fans as he soaks up final time trial at Giro d’Italia

Cycling is going to miss Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) when the legendary Manx sprinter finally hangs up his cleats at the end of the season.

And on Saturday he signed off his final Giro d’Italia time trial in style as he came home at the end of his run.

“Mark Cavendish now on the way to the finish line, just under an hour time,” said Jens Voigt on Eurosport commentary.

As he came to the finish line, Cavendish rode over to the side of the road and began high-fiving and celebrating with the fans, and that made Voigt very excited.

“Ah look at him! He’s soaking it all up! Fantastic move from Cav!”

Watching alongside Voigt was Daniel Lloyd who added “He was full of smiles and full of waves as he set off from the start ramp, 56 minutes ago, the final time trial at the Giro d’Italia for Mark Cavendish of Astana Qazaqstan.”

“An emotional press conference when he announced his retirement and we’ve said so much about his career so far, but he’d dearly love to finish off his Giro d’Italia career with a stage win tomorrow and he’s certainly got an opportunity.”

There were other riders doing their best to entertain the crowd with Belgian star Laurenz Rex cracking out the wheelies.

As Lloyd mentioned all eyes will now be on the final stage, Stage 21, on Sunday.

The final stage of a Grand Tour is always effectively a processional stage for the general classification winner but it is normally a sprint stage, giving the chance for someone like Cavendish.

Later on during the Saturday time trial the focus will turn to the GC contenders, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), with Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) also waiting in the wings should they both slip up.

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