Mark Cavendish: 'I'd like to speak with Peter... a crash is a crash, but I'd like to know about the elbow'
Mark Cavendish says he needs to talk to Peter Sagan about the crash that took him out of the Tour de France stage four, saying he's "not angry, just confused"
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) wants to talk to Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) about the high-speed crash at the end of Tour de France stage four to Vittel that sent him to the hospital.
Cavendish went to hospital with his right arm in a sling and his Dimension Data team said that it is unsure he can continue in the Tour de France on stage five.
Peter Sagan was subsequently disqualified for his part in the crash.
"I was following [eventual stage winner Arnaud] Démare around and Sagan came over, that was it," Cavendish said surrounded by press at the bus.
Mark Cavendish gets elbowed by Peter Sagan on stage four of the Tour de France (Sunada)
(Image credit: Yuzuru SUNADA)
"Yeah, [he apologised]. I get on with Peter well, but I don't... If he came across it's one thing, but the elbow... I'm not a fan of him putting his elbow in me like that.
"Like I said, I get on with Peter, a crash is a crash, but I'd like to know about the elbow."
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Cavendish raced on Sagan's right and near 150 metres to race in the 207.5-kilometre stage, but he ran out of space as Sagan drifted right.
"I don't know, the jury will do what they do," Cavendish said when asked if he thought the jury was right to send Sagan home.
"I'm not angry, I'm just a little confused," he added.
Sagan, winner of stage three on Monday, rode to the Dimension Data bus to apologise to Cavendish.
"The guy on the right side, I don't know who it was, I wanted to go on his wheel, and Mark was coming from the back but I didn't already know he was behind me," Sagan said. "After, he just come and yeah, he just touched me and after the fence.
"I didn't know where he was coming from, it was a little bit also my fault and his fault , but yeah, I'm so sorry for him because he crashed.”
When asked if he accepted the blame, Sagan said, "It's the sprint, I just didn't know that Mark was behind me. I just didn't have time to react to go left and he just come came to me and after to the fence."
Cavendish left the press for an ambulance and went to the hospital for controls.
"I definitely need stitches in this finger and in this fake ligament, it's something to do with that previous shoulder, just sat backwards," Cavendish said.
"I don't know if I snapped it or what. I'm not a doctor, I don't know what, but from the feelings, I'm not 100 per cent."
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Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.
