Mark Cavendish crashes on Tour de France stage four as Geraint Thomas retains lead
Arnaud Demare wins bunch sprint as Mark Cavendish falls in late crash
Wednesday 5 July 2017 11:07, UK
Mark Cavendish suffered a heavy crash in the final metres of stage four of the Tour de France on Tuesday, which was won by Arnaud Demare of FDJ.
In a chaotic finish through narrow roads into the town of Vittel, the Dimension Data sprinter fell after hitting the barrier having jostled briefly with Peter Sagan, a collision which resulted in the Slovakian's disqualification.
The final couple of kilometres of the stage became frantic as the road narrowed downhill and turned sharply, with teams struggling to stay at the front of the bunch towards the finish line.
Yesterday's stage winner Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe) was initially awarded second place with Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) completing the podium.
But it was the Slovak's clash with Cavendish that dominated the post-race press briefings and overshadowed the 207.5km stage from Mondorf-les-Bains to Vittel, which represented Demare's first Tour stage win.
Overall leader Geraint Thomas fell first in the tight, technical finish to the stage but was soon up and on his way with no time loss as the crash occurred in the final three kilometres and he retains the yellow jersey as a result.
With his arm in a sling, Cavendish said he didn't know what had happened, but that he would speak to Sagan about the incident, which ended with the world road race champion's premature end to the 2017 Tour.
"I get on with Peter well but I'm not a fan of him putting his elbow in me like that," said Cavendish.
"A crash is a crash, I have a good relationship with Peter, I'd just like to speak to him about it. To comment on stuff isn't right for me, it's always going to be taken out of context."
Sagan was quick to apologise and defend himself, insisting: "Mark was coming pretty fast from the back. I tried but didn't have time to react to go left. He came to me and I had to defend."
When asked if he had apologised, he added: "For sure, because it's not nice to crash like that."
During a benign start, Belgium's Guillaume Van Keirsbulck of Wanty-Groupe Gobert made a one-man break at the start of the race, and maintained it until 17km from the end.
Van Keirsbulck earned the Combativity Award for his long solo ride through the best part of 200km. The Belgian rider also won the King of the Mountains (KoM) and intermediate sprint points.
At the intermediate sprint, Demare edged out his sprint rivals for second place, including Andre Greipel, who came in third, and Peter Sagan with Marcel Kittel in the green jersey just behind.
Nathan Brown became the first American to retain the lead in the KoM competition. Greg LeMond (1986), Tejay van Garderen (2011) and Taylor Phinney (yesterday) wore the polka dot jersey for one day only.
Thomas retained his position at the head of the field, and a 12-second lead over teammate Chris Froome, and despite his own fall admitted he was fine
"I'm okay, the crash happened right in front of me," said Thomas.
"I tried to take off quite a lot of speed, but there was nowhere to go."
Additional reporting by AP
