Peter Sagan accepts Tour de France disqualification but insists he did nothing wrong
Wednesday 5 July 2017 13:10, UK
World champion Peter Sagan accepted defeat on Wednesday in his bid to have his Tour de France disqualification overturned but insisted he did nothing wrong in the stage four sprint finish that caused Mark Cavendish to crash.
Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team launched an official protest against the world champion's disqualification from the Tour de France after the crash which ended Mark Cavendish's race, but the Slovak conceded defeat later on Wednesday.
Speaking to journalists, Sagan said he didn't agree with the sanction but had accepted it.
The 27-year-old was kicked off the Tour on Tuesday for elbowing Cavendish into the metal barriers during the sprint finish to the Tour's fourth stage.
Cavendish crashed hard and was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken shoulder blade, ending his own Tour participation.
"I can only accept the decision of the jury, but I disagree. I don't think I've done anything wrong in the sprint," said Sagan, who was reading a statement.
The Tour's race commission disagreed, though, and disqualified him for having "endangered some of his colleagues seriously".
Cavendish had questioned not why Sagan swerved towards him during the sprint finish, but why he had jutted out an elbow, sending him into the railings.
"I was a little bit confused with the elbow, that's something I'd like to speak to him about," said the 32-year-old winner of 30 Tour stages.
Wednesday's fifth stage starts in Vittel and runs for 160.5km to the first uphill mountain finish of this year's race at La Planche des Belles Filles.
