Cavendish pulls out of Tour

British cyclist Mark Cavendish has pulled out of the Tour de France.

The Manxman, 22, had planned to quit after tomorrow's rest day but climbed off

after being dropped by the peloton early in today's stage into the Alps.

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Cavendish, a world and Commonwealth gold medallist on the track, was competing

in his first Tour in his first season as a road professional.

He had been selected by his team, T-Mobile, to contest the sprint finishes in

the first week but bad luck limited him to two top-10 finishes.

He crashed twice - on the stage into Canterbury last Sunday and the following

day close to the finish in Ghent.

And the pedal of another rider ripped out the spokes of his front wheel when he

appeared well-placed going into the final few kilometres of the stage into Bourg

en Bresse on Friday.