Mark Cavendish suffered crash prior to Tour de France stage six sprint
Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) crashed and lost a sprint to André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) in the Tour de France's stage to Montpellier today.
"I didn't necessarily lose the sprint because of the crash," Cavendish told journalists crowded at Omega Pharma's bus door.
"I think there's a lot of factors, for sure crashing didn't help. It took a lot of energy to get back from behind; for sure André [Greipel] was really strong."
Omega Pharma led, but faded in the last kilometres when teams Argos-Shimano and Lotto came to the front.
Greipel won the sprint ahead of Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) and Cavendish.
"I'm disappointed," added Cavendish. "I won the sprint yesterday, my morale still good. We rode strong all day in difficult conditions so it's okay, we've got another two weeks left."
Cavendish fell in a roundabout with 32 kilometres remaining into the 176.5-kilometre stage and had to chase back on to even have a chance in the sprint.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
He blamed himself for the crash.
"I was going around a roundabout about and it was very tight, my front wheel went."
Live TV failed to catch the image. Sports director, Brian Holm said that they heard about it on the radio.
"We went around the roundabout and found Cavendish on the left side of the road," explained Holm. "He needed to change his bike."
Cavendish, with a ripped British champion's jersey, re-entered the speeding peloton with 23 kilometres to race. Omega Pharma set up its train as it had yesterday to produce the win. Today, however, it failed in the final kilometres.
"We have to admit that Lotto kicked us in the balls and we got our lesson. That was good, what they did was perfect. Omega ran out of gasoline," Holm added.
"Cavendish tried to stay and go from fourth wheel, but you have to start from the inside with a perfectly good lead-out. Greipel had perfectly good legs and Lotto did everything right. We just have to say congratulations."
Cavendish came to the bus and refused to speak for some time.
"I just heard him yelling in the bus, no one can understand him when he's yelling," Holm said. "I won't speak to him, I'll stay away. I'll talk to him during massage and we always end up laughing at it. It's all right to be angry."
Other buses tried to pass, forcing around 50 journalists to move away. Only after around 20 to 30 minutes did he appear on the doorstep, talking in a low voice, but keeping his cool.
Cavendish said of his anger, "We don't really do a song and dance when we don't win."
Related links
Tour de France 2013: Cycling Weekly's coverage index
Read Cycling Weekly magazine on the day of release wherever you are in the world with our iPad and iPhone edition - International digital edition, UK digital edition. And if you like us, rate us!
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Founded in 1891, Cycling Weekly and its team of expert journalists brings cyclists in-depth reviews, extensive coverage of both professional and domestic racing, as well as fitness advice and 'brew a cuppa and put your feet up' features. Cycling Weekly serves its audience across a range of platforms, from good old-fashioned print to online journalism, and video.
-
Mark Cavendish to conclude professional cycling career in Singapore
Tour de France stage win record holder to bring curtain down on racing career at ASO end of season criteriums in Asia
By Tom Thewlis Published
-
At just 5.5kg for under £1,000, this hill climb special proves you can save the pennies and the pounds
Weighing just 5.5kg, and costing less than a grand, light and cheap can co-exist if you know where to look
By Luke Friend Published