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Tour de France Stage 1: Marcel Kittel wins in Harrogate - Cavendish crashes metres from lineTour de France logo

Tour de France Stage 1: Marcel Kittel wins in Harrogate - Cavendish crashes metres from line

Yorkshire puts on a fantastic show but Cavendish crash brings unwelcome drama
by Simon_MacMichael
Sat, Jul 05, 2014 20:10
11

Marcel Kittel won the first stage of the 2014 Tour de France in Harrogate today. A crash inside the final 300 metres meant Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider Mark Cavendish was unable to realise his dream today of winning Stage 1 of the Tour de France, and with it the chance to wear the race leader’s yellow jersey for the first time in his career.

The crash left Cavendish with a dislocated shoulter and torn ligaments - whether wh will continue in the race will be decided depending on the results of an MRI scan.

Cavendish came down after colliding with Orica-GreenEdge rider Simon Gerrans in a crash that only a handful of riders managed to avoid, with Giant Shimano’s Marcel Kittel going on to take the victory and with it, the race lead and the yellow jersey, just as he did 12 months ago in Corsica.

In terms of drama the final sprint certainly lived up to the rest of a fantastic day in Yorkshire that saw huge crowds lining the roadsides - with the climb of Buttertubs producing scenes more reminiscent of the Alps than a 3rd category climb in Northern England. 

After grinding their way around the Yorkshire hills the sprint teams almost had their moment of glory snatched away from them when Fabian Cancellara attacked in the final kilometre - for a moment it looked as if his attack would stick, but he was caught in the final few hundred metres.

Kittel looked to have the race in the bag as Cancellara was caught, and it was while trying to find a way past Simon Gerrans of Orica Greenedge that Cavendish went down - he later acknowledged that the crash was his fault "I tried to find a gap that wasn't there". 

 

Reaction to follow.

 

Tour de France stage 1
Tour de France 2014
Mark Cavendish
Marcel Kittel
Grand Depart 2014
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

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Shades | 10 years ago
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Not often I watch an entire TdF stage but that was a real 'belter' (fans, local roads, Jensie, Fabien breaking). If Cav had won, it would have been etched in my mind forever. Almost wish he'd eased off and accepted defeat in order to avoid the crash, but that's Cav and that's why I think he's great. Greipel must be scratching his head ref Kittel. Message to other sports; that's what real fans look like. No corporate boxes on the Buttertubs!

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Yorkshie Whippet | 10 years ago
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Come on people. The biggest yearly event in the world is in this country. It seemed that half the population of UK stood on some god forsaken hill. And we all cheered till our throats hurt, clapped until our hands bleed and waved our arms till they fell if. Some took home tea bags and memories, other a spotty cap and memories.

I'd call that a very successful day. Let's focus on the good of the day. 30mins and I'll be doing it all again!

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therevokid | 10 years ago
0 likes

sad, sad day for cav ... but big up for standing
up and admitting the mistake

Avatar
Al__S | 10 years ago
0 likes

"It was my fault, I'll apologise to Simon. I tried to find a gap that was not there, I wanted to win,"

I think that ends the "who caused the crash" arguments, he says he did it.

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Leviathan | 10 years ago
0 likes

This is the end for Cavendish.

An apocalyptic statement, and maybe it is just the beginning of the end. But head to head he can't compete with Kittel. I hope he is back in the future, though too injured for this tour.

"Thousands of people died on D-Day, this is a bike race"
Seems like he though it was the Superbowl. Some might consider it a racing accident but Cav brought his accident on himself, he was competing for space that wasn't there when the stage was already lost, trying too hard. The days of 5 stages and green jerseys are gone. Sorry Cav, get well soon, but time your efforts more carefully.

Avatar
fukawitribe replied to Leviathan | 10 years ago
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bikeboy76 wrote:

"Thousands of people died on D-Day, this is a bike race"
Seems like he though it was the Superbowl. Some might consider it a racing accident but Cav brought his accident on himself, he was competing for space that wasn't there when the stage was already lost, trying too hard. The days of 5 stages and green jerseys are gone. Sorry Cav, get well soon, but time your efforts more carefully.

Yeah - cheers for regurgitating what he said himself in a snide and supercilious manner... and then pointing out the bleeding obvious.

Avatar
Leviathan replied to fukawitribe | 10 years ago
0 likes
fukawitribe wrote:
bikeboy76 wrote:

"Thousands of people died on D-Day, this is a bike race"
Seems like he though it was the Superbowl. Some might consider it a racing accident but Cav brought his accident on himself, he was competing for space that wasn't there when the stage was already lost, trying too hard. The days of 5 stages and green jerseys are gone. Sorry Cav, get well soon, but time your efforts more carefully.

Yeah - cheers for regurgitating what he said himself in a snide and supercilious manner... and then pointing out the bleeding obvious.

Yeah - cheers for regurgitating what I said in a snide and supercilious manner... and then pointing out the bleeding obvious.

Avatar
fukawitribe replied to Leviathan | 10 years ago
0 likes
bikeboy76 wrote:
fukawitribe wrote:
bikeboy76 wrote:

"Thousands of people died on D-Day, this is a bike race"
Seems like he though it was the Superbowl. Some might consider it a racing accident but Cav brought his accident on himself, he was competing for space that wasn't there when the stage was already lost, trying too hard. The days of 5 stages and green jerseys are gone. Sorry Cav, get well soon, but time your efforts more carefully.

Yeah - cheers for regurgitating what he said himself in a snide and supercilious manner... and then pointing out the bleeding obvious.

Yeah - cheers for regurgitating what I said in a snide and supercilious manner... and then pointing out the bleeding obvious.

Touché - but I wasn't reguritating what you said, I was criticising it, and pity what I said was obvious no ?

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tonyleatham replied to Leviathan | 10 years ago
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Why do people in this country just love to slag off anybody who is successful? Cav is one of the world's best sprinters. We should celebrate this fact, not engage in speculation about whether or not the stage was "already lost" - speculation which is 100% guess because it can only be based upon very,very limited information. Watching on TV gives such a small, limited perspective to be almost useless

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SamSkjord | 10 years ago
0 likes

Poor Cav, his prerace interview with Eurosport was great:
"This must be your D-Day Cav?"
"Why's that?"
"You must want to with in your mothers home town?"
"Thousands of people died on D-Day, this is a bike race"
41

Avatar
Beefy | 10 years ago
0 likes

Fab day watching near Haws locals great and really made the place look and feel great. But £70 pound for a car and two man tent on a farmers field with porta loo? Ok it was two night but only wanted one. A touch of greed from some but on the whole a once in a life time experience. Hope The missile can carry on

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