Tour de France: Cavendish Not to Blame

Referees at the Tour de France have exonerated Mark Cavendish of any wrongdoing in the sprint finish won by Marcel Kittel. German Tom Veelers was furious after a clash of shoulders with Cavendish which brought him down at high speed.

Cavendish explained that he was trying to make his way on to Andre Greipel’s wheels as the German begun the sprint. After watching the video footage, the race directory Jean-Francois Pescheux, said that Veelers was at fault as he had been dropping back through the faster moving sprinters.

However, Veelers blames Cavendish, “I remember that I did the lead out for Marcel Kittel, I steered off, let [myself] go back [and] suddenly I get ridden off my bike by Mark Cavendish.” Furthermore in a French TV interview he claimed that Cavendish had pushed him.

However, it was an excellent stage for Kittel. Unlike his victory in stage one when Cavendish was held up by a crash, in this stage Kittel was able to overcome both the Manxman and Greipel, overtaking them in the final metres to become the first rider to win two stages in this Tour.