MARK CAVENDISH FOLLOWED Peter Sagan out of this year’s Tour de France last night, withdrawing due to injuries sustained in a crash of Sagan’s making.
Cavendish was taken to hospital after Sagan’s elbow sent the Manxman hurtling into a barrier during a dramatic sprint finish to stage four in Vittel.
The Team Dimension Data rider said he was not optimistic that he would be able to continue in the famous Grand Tour race after being left with a badly cut finger and damaged shoulder. And Cavendish’s team confirmed late last night that his participation in the Tour is over after x-rays showed he had sustained fractures to his shoulder.
Cavendish only recently recovered from glandular fever, but entered the race just four stage wins shy of Eddy Merckx’s record tally of 34 and had hoped to close in on the legendary Belgian.
The 32-year-old is instead facing another spell off the road following an incident which also brought Sagan’s Tour to an early end, barring the outcome of a protest announced by his team Bora-Hansgrohe late in the day.
Should the decision be upheld, Sagan will have paid the price for catching Cavendish with his right elbow as they vied for position at the end of the 207.5-kilometre route from Mondorf-les-Bains.
Tour Jury President Philippe Marien said: “We 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 in Vittel.”
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