Tour Team News: High speed crash for Sky’s Cavendish

Mark Cavendish’s hopes of a 22nd Tour de France win were derailed when he was caught up in a late crash at the end of stage four.

The world champion, winner of stage two 48 hours earlier, was seeking to draw level with Lance Armstrong and Andre Darrigade by adding to his 21 Tour stage victories.

But he – and colleague Bernhard Eisel – were among a number of riders brought down in a mass pile-up with 2.7 kilometres remaining. Cavendish was later able to get back on his bike and roll across the line, albeit with his ripped world champion’s jersey clear evidence of the force of the impact, while Eisel required stitches in a cut above his right eyebrow.

Photo: Rob Lampard (velostars)

As the collision occurred inside the final 3km of the stage those caught up were credited with the same time as the winner, meaning Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) retains the race leader’s yellow jersey, leading Bradley Wiggins by seven seconds.

Video of the stage…

Sean Yates, Team Sky Sports Director: “It was certainly not what we wanted to see,” he said. The lead-up to a sprint is very dangerous and we see this kind of thing time and time again. Nobody wants to see crashes for anybody and we were among the victims again today. There wasn’t a lot of room there in the bunch. At that speed with a touch of wheels, before you know it you are lying on the deck. The guys are battered and bruised but they will fight on. These guys are tough. We saw Cav jump back up after his accident at the Giro.”

“Up to that point the day had been relatively straight forward and a lot calmer than yesterday. But it’s never over until it’s over. The crash was inside the 3km and so the rule applies and Bradley held station on the GC.”

Team Sky doctor Alan Farrell says of their injuries, “both Cav and Bernie had heavy crashes but luckily all their injuries seem relatively superficial and there are no broken bones. We are just taking them back to the hotel for further assessment and to look after their wounds but we are very hopeful in terms of the prognosis and outlook.”