Cavendish suffers Tour de France blow as brother of ex-Real Madrid star crashes

Mark Cavendish's hopes of creating history at the 2023 Tour de France were dealt a major blow on Wednesday.

Cavendish stands on the brink of history – one more stage win will take him clear of Eddy Merckx as the winningest rider the Tour has ever seen. Merckx, considered the greatest of all time, is currently tied with the Manx Missile on 34 stage wins.

However, during a crash-riddled run-in to Nogaro on Tuesday, Cavendish's right-hand-man, Luis Leon Sanchez, hit the deck. And Sanchez was a non-started on Wednesday after overnight scans confirmed he had broken his collarbone.

Astana Qazaqstan confirmed on Twitter: "@LLEONSANCHEZ broke his left collarbone in the last kilometre of Stage 4. Tomorrow he goes home to Spain where he will undergo an operation. Recover well, Luisle!"

READ MORE: Tour de France sprint ends in chaos as three crashes leave 'bodies everywhere'

Speaking on Eurosport-GCN on Wednesday morning, Tour legend Robbie McEwan said: "It is bad news [for Cavendish], he did a good job yesterday… until he fell off on the last corner."

Ex-pro Adam Blythe added: "I think Luis Leon will be gutted, he could have been part of history with Cavendish, like a huge part of history, that will never be forgotten! So for him, he's probably more gutted about this than anything else in his career!"

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Sanchez comes from a family of sporting royalty, he is one of three brothers – and while Sanchez has huge cycling victories next to his name, they're nothing compared to Pedro Leon.

Leon is the most famous face in the family, having spent time at Real Madrid in his career. Leon only spent one season at the Bernabeu, having made a €10million (£8.4m) move from Getafe in 2010.

And his best moment at Real came shortly after his move, as he combined with Karim Benzema to find the net against AC Milan, sending Los Blancos to the knockout rounds in Europe.

However, a falling out with Jose Mourinho and a training ground bust-up with Fernando Gago saw him fall out of favour at Real – eventually moving back to Getafe.

Leon, 36, is still in the beautiful game – and he currently plays for third-tier side Real Murcia.

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