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news
Mark Cavendish TdF 2017 Stage 4 crash.JPGMark Cavendish "not optimistic" of continuing Tour de France after crash
Mark Cavendish has said he is "not hopeful" of continuing the Tour de France after crashing heavily at the end of today's Stage 4 of the race, won by FDJ's Arnaud Demare.
The Dimension Data rider was well placed as he followed the French national champion's wheel when Bora Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan, seemingly pushed out to his right in what was a frantic sprint, moved to his right into Cavendish's path and sent the Manxman into the barriers with around 200 metres to go.
The Manx rider hit the barriers hard with his right shoulder and his head hit the ground as he landed.
Sagan, who recovered to finish second, had appeared to flick out an elbow as he drifted across Cavendish's line, possibly in an effort to keep upright and prevent himself from crashing.
.@arnaudemare s'impose après une chute de Cavendish / @arnaudemare wins the stage, Cavendish crashed #TDF2017 @vittel pic.twitter.com/93HGr6XETq
— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 4, 2017
Speaking outside the Dimension Data team bus shortly after the stage finished, Cavendish - his arm in a sling - said he was heading to hospital and did not know whether he would be able to continue in the race.
He said he would need stitches in a finger, but the main concern surrounded potential ligament damage to his right shoulder in what would be a repeat of the injury he sustained on the opening day of the 2014 Tour de France when he crashed in Harrogate.
"I'm not optimistic," Cavendish told reporters.
He also said that while he he generally got on well with Sagan - who followed Cavendish to the team bus after the stage - he was waiting for an explanation of why the world champion had flicked his elbow out.
“If he came across that’s one thing ," he said. "But his elbow … I’m not a fan of him putting his elbow into me like that.
"I want to know about the elbow.”#
Here's an overhead view.
Sprint comparison / comparaison - Sagan... by tourdefrance
More to follow.
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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15 comments
I think the second crash was almost entirely Demare's fault, with his great swoop across the road. Having viewed it from multiple angles, Cav definitely touched Sagan's wheel and was on his way down before Sagan's elbow came out. I think it was part reflex, part trying to shut a door, and part trying to keep balance. It's a pretty typical Cav move, going for a gap that isn't really there.
Cav is really low on his bike in a sprint, and if it was anyone else that elbow would have been nowhere near head height and wouldn't have looked nearly so agressive.
Which clip are you referring to as the 'camera bike'?
The head-on shots don't give any depth perception.
The more I look at it, the more of a stitch-up it becomes. Green jersey for Demare, whose line deviation was the worst, is a little convenient for my liking.
No. Watch the overhead. It's much clearer.
The overhead isnt much clearer, it makes it even more debatable as it happened under tree cover, with the camera bike you can see it all unfold. As i said to me it looks like cavendish was leaning towards sagan, cavs usual trick
You mean the overhead doesn't fit your narative.
Or the lack of seeing what happened under the trees fits the other persons narrative. The camera bike you see it unfold without visual interruptions overhead shot isnt much clearer
It looks to me like cav was leaning in towards sagan and was going down before sagans elbow came out. Standard cav move he gambled and lost, i used to respect him as a cyclist but the last few years hes been a joke.
IMG_20170704_174057.png
Jensie agrees with me:
https://twitter.com/thejensie/status/882297315427590144
I may be being naive but surely no pro would do that on purpose and expect to get away with it?
Big loss for the tour to lose both Cav and Sagan.
It's a split-second decision (or instinct even) - I think you can see the bit where he realised you can't get away with it when he hot-footed it over to the Dimension bus to apologise.
Yes it looks like Sagan has gone. You do get a lot of jostling in the bunch, but an elbow to someone that close to a barrier? Fuck that.
A shame really as I like both riders, and Cav has had an especially tough year thus far. Would have liked to have seen him grab a couple of stages at least. Makes the battle for green a little less one sided anyway...
BBC has Sagan DQ'd as well......
Edit.: Just adding that it should at least make the points race more intresting!
Official site showing Sagan out of the TDF.
Can't say I recall ever seeing Cav pull off a stunt like that though yes there has been plenty of jostling with him involved. From the TV it's hard not to see Sagan as solely responsible for this. I'm not saying by any means it was deliberate but it was very poor form at best.
Whether Cav's there or not I don't see it having any significance on Steve Cummings winning a stage or not. He's pretty much got a freelance role.
I think Sagan should be relegated to last on today's stage personally.
With all due respect to Cav, he's pulled off moves like that many times in the last 10 years.
Don't get me wrong, would love to see him add to his TdF tally but if he does abandon the upside will be Steve Cummings being let go to try and win a stage.