MARK CAVENDISH
is injured and out of Tour de France after crash which saw Peter Sagan disqualified from the race.
Mark Cavendish has been forced to pull out of the Tour de France after suffering a broken shoulder in a crash which led to the world champion Peter Sagan being disqualified from the race.
Sagan nudged Cavendish into the barriers just 120 metres from the finish line on stage four as they sprinted into Vittel, sending the Manxman to hospital for tests on his right shoulder and hand.
The Team Dimension Data rider had not sounded optimistic immediately after the 207.5km stage from Mondorfles-bains which was won by Arnaud Demare of FDJ.
Cavendish dislocated the same shoulder when he crashed out of the Tour on the opening stage in 2014.
“I’m in a little bit of pain and I’ll go for a few more tests now,” Cavendish said before an X-ray revealed his injury.
“I’ve done the shoulder before so I know how that feels but I’m okay. Got a couple of stitches in my finger.
“In terms of pain, I’ve done my shoulder twice before and I’m in more pain now than I was for one of my shoulders, so that doesn’t make me too optimistic just on feeling.
“But I’m not a doctor so if I can’t make it work I’ll see. But I’m in a little bit of pain right now, I’ve got no movement.”
Sagan was initially docked 30 seconds for his role in the crash, but the race jury looked at the incident again before announcing the Slovakian’s participation – and his bid to win a record-equalling sixth straight green jersey – is over.
“We have decided to disqualify Peter Sagan from Tour de France 2017 as he endangered some of his colleagues seriously in the final metres of the sprint which happened in Vittel,” said race jury president Philippe Marien.
Cavendish, a 30-time Tour stage winner, had fought for three months to overcome the Epstein-barr virus just to make it to the race, and was unimpressed with Sagan’s behaviour. “I was just following Demare, and Sagan came over,” he said. “I get on with Peter well, but I don’t get the elbow – I’m not a fan of him putting his elbow in me like that.”
Sagan visited the Dimension Data bus after the finish to check on Cavendish. “Mark was coming pretty fast from the back,” said Sagan, winner of stage three 24 hours earlier. “I tried but didn’t have time to react to go left. He came to me and I had to defend.”
The incident happened moments after another crash had sent Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas to the deck in the race leader’s yellow jersey. Thomas was fine to continue, losing no time as the incidents occurred inside the final three kilometres, while Chris Froome managed to skirt around it. Thomas continues to lead from Froome by 12 seconds, with Michael Matthews of Team Sunweb on the same time in third place overall.