CAVENDISH IS ELBOWED OUT
Broken shoulder KOs British ace
MARK CAVENDISH pulled out of the Tour de France last night after breaking his shoulder blade in a crash that led to the disqualification of double world champion Peter Sagan. In the final sprint, Sagan used his elbow to send Cavendish crashing into the barriers at 40mph. Cavendish, 32, said: ‘I’m obviously massively disappointed to get this news about the fracture.’
What looked like the deliberate use of an elbow left race officials with no choice but to disqualify the biggest, highestpaid member of the peloton from the tour de France last night.
that and the sight of Mark Cavendish smashing into a barrier at close to 40mph before the Manxman had to contend with the front wheel of another rider going clean over his head.
Cavendish was left with a broken shoulder blade and a severely cut finger, forcing him out of the tour.
‘the team were incredible today,’ he said. ‘they executed to perfection what we wanted to do. I was in a good position to win (the stage) and to lose that and now having to leave the tour, a race I have built my whole career around, is really sad.’
Shortly before 7pm here, members of the race jury had caused gasps when they announced Peter Sagan would be going home, too.
It was probably with some reluctance that they reached such a major decision. this, after all, was no ordinary rider. It was the winner of the previous day’s stage; the double world champion; the ¤ 6million- a- year Slovak whose eccentric personality makes him pure box office.
But the officials knew that amid the chaos of the sprint to the line, Sagan had lost all sense of what is correct.
Sure, this is racing and the stakes are never higher. Sprinters often collide and lean on one another as they jostle frantically for position. But Sagan, as the race jury made clear afterwards, was disqualified here for ‘seriously endangering’ another rider.
as he sensed Cavendish coming up on his right in pursuit of the wheel of eventual stage winner arnaud Demare, Sagan first moved right to narrow the angle. an instinctive move, perhaps.
But when Cavendish then started to lean against Sagan, no doubt desperate to avoid a crash cushion just ahead of him, the response was shocking. First came an aggressive shove back and then a cold, brutal lunge of the right elbow that sent Cavendish spinning to the ground.
It was some time before the winner of 30 tour stages crossed the line, his right hand bandaged; the pain in the same shoulder he fractured in harrogate on the opening stage of the 2014 tour clearly troubling him.
Sagan, to his credit, was quick to visit Dimension Data and apologise to Cavendish. But Cavendish and his bosses were less than happy after watching the replay. Performance director Rolf aldag did not hesitate in calling for Sagan to be kicked out. Roger hammond, the Dimension Data directeur
sportif who joined aldag in visiting the race jury, suggested Sagan was also at fault for a pile-up that had claimed race leader Geraint thomas some 1.5km out on the tight streets of Vittel.
thomas crossed the line unhurt and remains in the yellow jersey.
Before the X-ray last night that confirmed he had broken a shoulder blade, Cavendish seemed mightily disappointed with his friend and fellow pro. ‘I’m not a fan of him putting his elbow in me like that,’ he said.
after hearing Sagan had been disqualified, however, Cavendish was philosophical. ‘I was massively grateful that Peter came directly to see me,’ he said. ‘I have a good relationship with him, so I’m a little confused by the elbow.’