Cavendish hopes brought crashing down

Columnist and Senior Features Writer

Thursday 5 July 2012

MARK Cavendish's hopes of celebrating his 22nd Tour de France stage win was scuppered yesterday by a dramatic crash in the final kilometres to the line.

Custom byline text:

Susan Swarbrick

Andre Greipel, of Lotto-Belisol, emerged from the shadow of his old adversary to claim victory on stage four. The German rider held off the challenge of Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) and Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano) in a textbook sprint finish to take the win into Rouen.

Team Sky's Cavendish was nowhere to be seen having become caught up in a vicious crash among the tightly packed peloton with just 2.7km to go. The world road race champion was left stunned on the tarmac – his distinctive yellow helmet cracked open like an egg – before slowly making his way to the line to finish more than four minutes behind Greipel.Cavendish's Sky team-mate Bernhard Eisel was also involved in the crash and received a large cut to his forehead. Robbie Hunter (Garmin-Sharp) looked to be the catalyst in the collision, appearing to clip a wheel before taking down Cavendish and creating a domino effect among the riders. The crash delayed two thirds of thepeloton among them Bradley Wiggins (Sky), and yellow jersey holder Fabian Cancellara (Radio Shack-Nissan-Trek) who, unlike Cavendish, escaped unscathed and seemed in good spirits as he crossed the line.As the incident happened within the final 3km, under race rules all of those affected were awarded the same time as the winners. "I'm so happy today, my guys supported me really well," said Greipel. "They are such strong riders who led me out. That's what we wanted to do, win this stage. I'm just so happy."Earlier, Cavendish had signalled his own ambitions by leading the bunch over the line in the intermediate sprint. His former HTC-Highroad team-mate Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) inadvertently found himself in his old role as lead out man as Cavendish tucked in behind his wheel before pipping him narrowly to the line.A three-man breakaway comprising Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro, of the Europcar team, alongside Frenchmen David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) built a maximum lead of almost nine minutes before being reeled in by the peloton with 4km left to go.A bold counter-attack involving Andriy Grivko (Astana), Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) within the final 10km was short-lived.Notably absent among their number was Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) who, having spent the previous three days off the front of the peloton, was clearly taking the opportunity to rest his weary legs among the main bunch of riders.Yesterday's result sees the general classification standings remain unchanged, with Cancellara still in yellow and Wiggins second overall. The Englishman is a full 10 seconds clear of rival Cadel Evans (BMC).Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), who finished fifth, is building his lead in the green jersey points classification, while Morkov keeps the polka-dot jersey in the mountains classification.Today's 196.5km stage five from Rouen-Saint Quentin is another to suit the sprinters. There are no classified climbs, just rolling roads through the rural French countryside.All signs point to a bunch sprint finish on a course which is usually home to the Tour of Picardie. With victory having so far evaded Goss and Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) they, like Greipel, will be looking to show they can cut it among a fiercely competitive sprint pack. However, it would be unwise to rule out Cavendish or Sagan adding to their tally of one and two Tour stage wins, respectively.

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Cavendish hopes brought crashing down

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED