Mark Cavendish says 'it was my own fault' after crashing out of contention in Nokere Koerse
The Manxman said it's a compliment that him not winning still makes the headlines


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Mark Cavendish says that his crash at Nokere Koerse was an 'amateur mistake' that saw him drop out of contention for the race win.
Cavendish (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) was in the main group of favourites with six kilometres to go before clipping the back wheel of another rider on the final cobbled sector, causing him to crash and leaving him in a heap on the floor.
Luckily, he suffered no injuries of note and rode in with a team-mate in 84th place, nearly six minutes behind the winner Ludovic Robeet (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles).
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In an interview for Sporza, where Cavendish was watching a replay of his fall, said: "I love it. Honestly, that was a full-on race today.
"It was my own fault. I just caught the lip of the cobblestones and I went down. It’s just something that happens. Which is just an amateur mistake. If someone else did it, you just laugh at them, really,"
While it was the first time that the 'Manx Missile' had ridden Nokere Koerse, he had taken on the Nokereberg finish before in other races. He said in an Instagram post: "Pure, start to finish racing."
This was his fourth race of the season where his performances have looked encouraging, with his Deceuninck - Quick-Step team helping him the best they can.
He got a late puncture at the Clásica de Almería before coming 24th at hellish Belgian semi-Classic, Le Samyn. He then managed to put in a very impressive sprint to take second behind Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) at GP Monseré and then his late crash ruled him out at Nokere Koerse.
The former world champion looks in good form despite the mishaps, but it approaching three years since his last victory. Cavendish is amazed that this even makes the headlines.
"It’s been a while since I’ve won. I think it’s still kind of headlined if I don’t win, which is a bit absurd to be honest because 95 per cent of the peloton do not win a race in their life. I take it as a compliment."
Cavendish's next race is Friday (March 19) at Bredene Koksijde Classic where he faces the likes of Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe).
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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