Cavendish points finger at team-mate

MARK CAVENDISH blamed team-mate Mark Renshaw for costing him victory in the Tour de France yesterday.

A stormy and fractious 103-mile second stage from Utrecht to Zeeland ended with the Isle of Man rider fourth behind Andre Greipel.

Cavendish believes that Etixx-QuickStep leadout man Renshaw launched his sprint too early with 300metres to go.

Greipel won ahead of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), while Fabian Cancellara (Trek) claimed third and with it the bonus seconds which saw the Swiss take the race leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Tony Martin.

Cavendish wanted to hit the front with 200m to go and said: “I think Mark went too early and kind of left me hanging. We died. The day Cancellara beats me in a sprint I’ve gone too long. I’ve gassed it.”