Tour de France: World champion injured in crash but keeps Tour bid alive

Published on 05/07/2012 00:00

For a moment it appeared Mark Cavendish’s Tour de France and Olympic hopes might be over on stage four to Rouen, but the world champion is set to live to fight another day.

The first week of the Tour is often punctuated by crashes and the latest came in the final three kilometres of the 214.5km route from Abbeville, meaning there was no impact on the general classification standings, with Fabian Cancellara retaining the yellow jersey. In the close-packed bunch, Robbie Hunter (Garmin-Sharp) tumbled over his handlebars and in the melee Cavendish (Team Sky) tumbled to the tarmac, before picking himself up gingerly, his world champion’s jersey in tatters, and riding across the finish line more than four minutes behind stage winner Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol). Both Cavendish and Bernhard Eisel were being treated by medical staff after the stage.

Team principal Dave Brailsford expects them both to start today’s 196.5km fifth stage from Rouen to Saint-Quentin. “I can’t repeat what they said when they arrived on the bus,” Brailsford said.

“Sprinters crash, that’s part and parcel of the job. When you hit the ground that fast it always shakes you up.

“The adrenaline’s still running through the system so we’ll see how they are later. Bernie got quite a big gash above his eye, which was quite nasty. He’s having stitches. Mark’s more superficial.”

Cavendish said on Twitter: “Taken some scuffs to my left side, but I’ve bounced pretty well again.”

Cancellara rolled in 119th place, but maintained his seven-second lead over Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) in the overall rankings. Wiggins came in 154th alongside Scotland’s David Millar (Garmin-Sharp).

Up ahead Greipel was triumphant, winning his second Tour stage following a maiden win in 2011, after receiving support from three Lotto-Belisol team-mates.

The quartet had avoided the crash and executed a strong train to help the German to the line. Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) was second, with Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano) third.

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) finished fifth on the stage to extend his lead over Cavendish in the race for the points classification’s green jersey.

Cavendish, who won the maillot vert in 2011, had moved from third to second place by leading the peloton over the intermediate sprint behind the day’s three-man breakaway. But the Manxman now lies fourth on 86 points, with Sagan (147 points) ahead of Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) and Greipel, who have 92 and 87, respectively.

Greipel was thrilled with his display. “Crashes are never good and I really hope that everyone is okay,” he said.

“We managed to avoid the crash because we were already in the front to prepare the leadout and the guys did a perfect job to keep me up there and away from the dangerous areas. It worked out perfectly.”