Mark Cavendish's bid to become the Tour de France's most prolific stage winner has come to a premature end this afternoon as he crashed out of stage eight of the gruelling race.
The Manx Missile's hopes of securing a 35th stage win at his last appearance at the event were ended when he was involved within a crash within the peleton with 60km of the stage remaining.
Cavendish crashed with a small number of other riders including Pello Bilbao, and was visibly the most severely hurt.
Live broadcast images showed Cavendish nursing his collarbone before he was assessed by the race doctor. Shortly after he was taken to an ambulance and his abandonment was confirmed.