Cavendish hits out after crash in first stage

MARK CAVENDISH was among the most outspoken in his criticism as members of the Tour de France peloton turned their anger towards race organisers after Saturday's opening stage was marred by a series of crashes.

The 213-kilometre ride from Porto-Vecchio to Bastia, the first stage ever to be held on the island of Corsica, was won in a sprint finish by Germany's Marcel Kittel of the ArgosShimano team.

But his victory became something of a footnote at the end of a chaotic final 20 kilometres as the peloton flew along the narrow roads leading in to Bastia. “What caused the problems was changing the finish,” Cavendish said. “We heard on the radio with literally five kilometres to go that the sprint was in two kilometres, and then one kilometre later they were like ‘No, it’s at the original finish’. It’s just carnage.”

Cavendish had good reason to be unhappy, with the confusion putting paid to his chances of winning the stage. Contador insisted that he would be ok, while Team Sky duo Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard were declared fit to continue after undergoing tests following their falls, with the British team just happy to see their race favourite Chris Froome come home unscathed. "Obviously, this was a really unfortunate situation," explained Matt White, the sporting director of the Orica-GreenEdge team at the centre of the controversy. The bus was led under the finish gantry, and we took it for granted that there was enough clearance. The frantic efforts to clear the bus proved successful, and we had a few minutes notice that the finish line had been moved to its original place."

The team were later fined 2,000 Swiss Francs (US$2,116) by the organisers, who blamed them for their late arrival at the finish and insisted they had made the right decisions.

Despite that, there was widespread criticism from elsewhere, including from Marc Madiot, the manager of French outfit FDJ, who launched a stinging attack on the organisers.

"We can't keep changing the route," he told French television. "Everyone can understand why you might have to change the finish line if there is a problem.

"There is nothing wrong with that, but here the organisers have not done their job properly. The Spanish president of the organising committee, who I don't know, has made a big mistake. He should face the consequences. He is Spanish, he can go home."

Kittel was one of the lucky ones who avoided the crash and came through to pip Norway's Alexander Kristoff in a sprint for the line, although all riders were later awarded the same time. "I didn't know that there was a bus on the finish line," Kittel said. "I'm really happy that they managed to tow the bus away and that we could finish on the finish line." Attention now turns to Sunday's second stage, when more drama could be in the offing as the peloton set off into Corsica's rugged interior for a 156-kilometre ride from Bastia to Ajaccio.

With a series of tricky climbs in the offing, Kittel's yellow jersey is likely to be up for grabs.