Cycling: Mark Cavendish hits out after Roberto Ferrari crash

Cavendish (Team Sky) and overall leader Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) both hit the tarmac in the finale of the 190-kilometre circuit around east Jutland which began and finished in Horsens in Denmark, but Goss kept out of trouble to secure his first victory of the season and Orica-Green Edge’s maiden Grand Tour success. Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) was second and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Baracuda) third after also avoiding the incident.

Cavendish blamed Roberto Ferrari for causing the accident and race commissaires relegated the Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela rider to last place on the stage. The Manxman posted on twitter: “Ouch! Crashing at 75kph isn’t nice! Nor is seeing Roberto Ferrari’s manoeuvre. Should be ashamed to take out Pink, Red & World Champ jerseys.

“Is the team of Roberto Ferrari or the UCI going to do the right thing? Other riders, including myself, have been sent home for much less.”

American Phinney was slow to get up and was taken away by ambulance, but retained the maglia rosa and will continue in the race. “I’m better now,” he said on cyclingnews.com. “When I was on the ground I was a bit confused and in a state of shock, but I started to feel better when I was in the ambulance. I must have hit something when I fell. Phinney and Cavendish have today’s rest day to recover from their bruises as the peloton transfers to Verona, where the race continues with a team time-trial on Wednesday.

Yesterday’s stage was dedicated to the memory of Wouter Weylandt, who died during the third stage of the 2011 Giro, and the mayor of Horsens, Jan Trojborg, who died on Sunday. Before the start, riders from Weylandt’s Radioshack Nissan Trek team lined up at the front of the peloton, with his close friend Farrar.

Michele Acquarone, the general director of race organisers RCS Sport, read a message of condolence in the presence of Weylandt’s family and the assistant mayor of Horsens paid tribute to Trojborg.