World champion sent home after causing crash in stage 4 sprint
Stage 3 winner Peter Sagan (Boha-Hansgrohe) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) has been disqualified from the 2017 Tour de France. The World Champion was sent home after causing a crash on stage 4 in Vittel. The race jury announced the news at a hastily arranged press conference in the media centre, more than an hour after the stage had finished.
Sagan had finished second on the stage but connected with Mark Cavendish in the sprint for the line. He was initially docked 30 seconds and 80 points in the Green Jersey competition. However, upon further video analysis, the jury announced the new decision to the media.
To see how the crash happened, click here to see a gallery of images from the finish.
"We've decided to disqualify Peter Sagan from the Tour de France 2017 after the tumultuous sprint, here in Vittel. He endangered multiple riders, Mark Cavendish and others who were implicated in the crash, in the final meters of the sprint," an official from the race jury announced.
"We applied article 12.104, irregular sprints, in which case commissaires are allowed to enforce a judgement to disqualify a rider and amend a fine."
The stage was won by Arnaud Démare but the crash – the second within the final couple of kilometres drew most attention. Cavendish attempted to come through on Sagan’s right, close to the barriers. Sagan then moved his right elbow out, causing the Dimension Data to move off his line and into the barriers at high speed.
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As Cavendish lay on the ground, he was then hit John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) and Ben Swift (UAE Emirates) who also fell in the incident.
After the finish Sagan quickly rode towards the Dimension Data bus where he apologised for causing the crash.
Cavendish was taken to hospital after the crash and it was revealed that he has suffered no breaks or fractures. However it is unclear as to whether he will start stage 5 on Wednesday.
"I get on with Peter well," he said before being taken away for check-ups.
"But if he came across that’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 just need to know about the elbow really."
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
