Mark Cavendish ruled out of Tour de France with broken shoulder
Wednesday 5 July 2017 10:45, UK
Mark Cavendish has been ruled out of the Tour de France after suffering a broken shoulder in a crash during Tuesday's closing stages.
Cavendish was taken to hospital by ambulance with shoulder and finger injuries after crashing to the ground when Peter Sagan elbowed him into the metal safety barriers 100 metres from the finish of the 207.5km stage from Mondorf-les-Bains to Vittel.
Cavendish had spent three months battling back from the Epstein-Barr virus in order to make the start line of the Tour in Dusseldorf, and his early exit is a bitter blow.
"I'm obviously massively disappointed to get this news about the fracture," Cavendish said. "The team was incredible today.
"They executed to perfection what we wanted to do this morning. I feel I was in a good position to win and to lose that and even having to leave the Tour, a race I have built my whole career around, is really sad."
World champion Sagan was subsequently disqualified by race organisers.
"We've decided to disqualify Peter Sagan from the Tour de France 2017 as he endangered some of his colleagues seriously in the final metres of the sprint which happened in Vittel," said the president of the race commission, Philippe Marien.
Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team later announced they had officially protested the Slovakian's expulsion.
Cavendish had earlier demanded an explanation from Sagan for the elbow - he previously crashed out of the 2014 Tour with a broken collarbone.
Cavendish told reporters earlier today: "In terms of pain-wise, I've done my shoulder twice before and I'm in more pain now than I was for one of my shoulders -- that doesn't make me too optimistic, just on feeling, but I'm not a doctor."
The 31-year-old Briton was following the wheel of eventual stage winner Arnaud Demare of France when Sagan jutted out an elbow, knocking Cavendish into the barriers, where he came crashing down to the ground.
The 30-time Tour stage winner was treated by medical staff before crossing the finish line with a bloodied and bandaged hand. When he left for hospital, he was also wearing a sling.
