2017 Tour de France: Démare wins sprint as Cavendish crashes
— -- Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) crashed into the barrier after an elbow from Peter Sagan in the bunch sprint, as Arnaud D?mare became the first French sprinter to win a stage of the Tour de France since 2006.
The French National champion D?mare, raced clear in the final sprint to finish ahead of Sagan and?Alexander Kristoff, with Cavendish left with his?right hand bandaged and holding his shoulder at the finish.
In the sprint finish, Sagan veered right towards and his elbow sent Cavendish slamming into the barrier.?
Cavendish said afterwards he would need stitches in his finger and wasn't optimistic about his shoulder. The 30-time stage winner said Sagan came across to apologise, but questioned the elbow.?
"[I was] following D?mare around and just Sagan came over," said Cavendish. "I get on with Peter well, but I don't get... if he came across is one thing, but the elbow, I am not a fan of him putting his elbow in like that. Like i said I get on with Peter. A crash is a crash but I'd just like to know about that elbow really."
Cavendish stated that it would be for the jury to decide whether anything further would come of it, while Dimension Data sports director Roger Hammond said he was "furious" and "that?everyone on this team has a right to be angry".
Sagan, who has since been given a 30 second penalty for the incident claimed he didn't have time to react.?
"It is a sprint," Sagan told reporters afterwards. "I didn't know Mark was behind me. He was coming from the right side and I was trying to take the wheel of?Kristoff, I think.
"I wanted to go on his wheel, but Mark was coming really fast from the back and I didn't have time to react to go left. He just came to me and after to the fence."
That wasn't the only crash in the final kilometre as Geraint Thomas in the yellow jersey also hit the deck further back, but he didn't lose anytime as he was inside final 3km and therefore it didn't affect the overall classification.?
The last time the Tour de France ended in Vittel, back in 2009, Nicki Sorensen took the plaudits having been involved in a six-man breakaway, but a repeat solo effort never looked like threatening the sprinters.
Earlier in the stage Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Wanty) was the sole rider to break away, just after the start, and built up nearly 15 minutes of a lead. He remained in the front for almost 200Km until the peloton and Movistar took control with 15km left of the stage.
In the lead up to the sprint finish, Marcel Kittel's Quickstep were scattered and he couldn't get in position to attack, as Team Dimension Data's?Edvald Boasson Hagen and Mark Renshaw led out Cavendish.?
The British rider dropped back and looked in a good position but as he looked to go outside Sagan, the Slovak elbowed him into the barriers to take the attention away from?D?mare's win.
Yellow jersey classification
1. Geraint Thomas 14h 54' 25''
2.Chris Froome 12"
3. Michael Matthews 12"
Green Jersey (points)
1. Arnaud Demare 124
2. Marcel Kittel 81
3. Michael Matthews 66
King of the Mountains (points)
1. Nathan Brown 3
2. Peter Sagan 2
3. Taylor Phinney 2
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