What many of us rank amateurs (I speak of myself herein) would like to see Cavendish do, complete the entire Giro, and what his coaches and managers deem best for his season and career-long development and goal achievement may be two very different things. The OP indicated that Cavendish should stick around to support his teammates. I'm not sure he could do them much good when things get really steep in the remaining mountain stages. I'd love to see him stick it out but I don't pretend to understand the complexities of sprinter training and racing in grand tours and do not falt him or his handlers for their decision to pull the plug.