Top rider out of Tour after causing crash
VITTEL, France — One day Peter Sagan was twirling his fingers and celebrating victory.
A day later, the world champion from Slovakia — one of the sport’s biggest stars — was disqualified from the Tour de France.
Sagan was sent home Tuesday for causing a serious crash in a chaotic sprint finish that left Mark Cavendish needing treatment for his injuries and further examinations in a hospital.
About 50 meters from the end of Stage 4, Sagan elbowed Cavendish, who was squeezed against the barriers to his right, out of the way.
Cavendish slammed into the barriers and two other riders plowed over the British sprint specialist, a winner of 30 Tour stages.
“We have decided to disqualify Peter Sagan from the 2017 Tour de France after the tumultuous sprint here in Vittel, where he endangered several riders, including Mark Cavendish and others who were involved in the crash,” race jury president Philippe Marien of the UCI said.
Marien said they were applying UCI race rules that allow them to disqualify riders in “serious cases.”
Cavendish was taken to hospital with hand and shoulder injuries.
“I will definitely need stitches in this finger, it’s bleeding a lot,” he said. “With the shoulder, it might be something to do with a previous injury, it’s sat backwards so I’m not sure if I’ve done something to the ligament.
“I’m not a doctor, but from the feelings I’m not optimistic.”
Apart from doping offenses, disqualifications are rare in the Tour. In 2010, Australian Mark Renshaw was thrown out for a head-butt that cleared a path in a sprint for his teammate Cavendish to win the stage in Bourg-Les-Valence.
“If there was a mistake, then you have to congratulate the jury for having the courage to punish the world champion, the big star of cycling today,” said France’s Arnaud Demare, who won Tuesday’s stage.
Sagan was aiming to match Erik Zabel’s record of six green jerseys in the Tour’s points classification, and he was right on target after winning Stage 3.
“I get on with Peter well, but I don’t get ... if he came across is one thing, but the elbow. I’m not a fan of him putting his elbow in me like that,” Cavendish said.
“A crash is a crash, I’d just like to know about the elbow, really,” Cavendish added. “I’d just like to speak to him about it.”
After the crash, Sagan went over to see how Cavendish was and patted him on the back, while the British rider showed him his wounds.