By John Marsh, Editor & Publisher
Even if you’re not closely following the Tour de France, you probably heard the news that after Tuesday’s stage Peter Sagan – the reigning world champion and arguably the most popular pro rider – was tossed from the Tour after race referees ruled that his actions in the final sprint not only had caused the bad crash that ended Mark Cavendish‘s Tour (fractured scapula) but also “had put several other riders involved in the crash in danger,” according to Philippe Marien, the head referee.
Sagan’s BORA – hansgrohe team officially protested the decision and released this statement from Sagan:
“In the sprint I didn’t know that Mark Cavendish was behind me. He was coming from the right side, and I was trying to go on Kristoff’s wheel. Mark was coming really fast from the back and I just didn’t have time to react and to go left. He came into me and he went into the fence. When I was told after the finish that Mark had crashed, I went straight away to find out how he was doing. We are friends and colleagues in the peloton and crashes like that are never nice. I hope Mark recovers soon.”
Sagan further stated that he does not believe he was at fault: “I can accept the decision but for sure I do not agree with them, because I think I have done nothing wrong…. As you saw it was a crazy sprint. It was not the first one like that or the last one.”
In fact, many pro sprints are effectively rolling scrums in which it’s not uncommon to see varying degrees of heads and shoulders being used “offensively” as riders jockey for position.
The ruling seems to come down to a dictate issued before the start of the Tour. As head race referee Marien stated:
“Before the Tour de France we warned the sprinters that we would look very closely at every sprint. That is what we did today. It was not an easy decision, but this is the beginning of the Tour and now is the moment to set our boundaries. And that is what we did today. It was not about Sagan, but about the act the rider made. What happens here, it looks like it was on purpose and it almost looks like hitting a person. It’s not about Cavendish and Sagan, it could be anybody, the names won’t matter.”
Did the punishment fit the offense? You be the judge:
Given the availability of video evidence it amazes me how free people feel to invent stories. Sagan’s wasn’t invented but it also wasn’t accurate. Cavendish was on Demare’s wheel on the extreme right, when Sagan moved left to take it. No-one pushed Sagan, and he may have thought he was looking for Kristoff’s wheel, but he was not. The overhead shot is most instructive but you can see quite well from the one here.
Whether the penalty is right is another issue.
I think Sagan got hosed on this one. Cavendish was being an aggressive rider during the sprint, as one will be during this final mad dash. He wound up in a spot where there was no spot for him to go. It appears that Cavendish was falling before Sagan lifted his arm to stabilize himself. It also appears, via the available video footage, that the only contact made was Cavendish pressing his head against Sagan in an effort to gain stability. Sagan’s elbow never made contact his Cavendish.
The frame captured in the video above I think shows what Sagan did. You can see his upper body has shifted to the right, along with the thrown elbow. His lower body is shifted to his left to compensate for shifting the upper body right. If Cav’s contact had shifted Sagan in any direction, it would have been to Sagan’s left, not his right. Not to mention the size/weight difference between these two. I believe Sagan’s biggest fault is throwing out his elbow, which many believe was to stabilize himself. Extending an elbow just isn’t acceptable in a sprint or even in the peloton. This is dangerous and some video shots show Sagan’s lower arm contacting Cav’s brake hood. I think we all know the outcome of that type of contact with the handlebars. It throws the rider in the opposite direction, which in this case is into the barriers for Cav.
What nobody is talking about is those horrible foam pads inserted into the line of barriers and what they did to Cav when he hit it. Throwing him off the barriers and into the path of the other riders that ran over him and probably the thing that broke his scapula. A continuous flat barrier would probably have saved him from at least the broken bone, but he would have still had some serious road rash.
Scott, I agree with you. There is video from both the top and the front. Like many people, I’ve watched both many times at regular speed, slow speed, and paused. Yes, Sagan moves to his right, but not abruptly. Yes, Cav leans left onto Sagan in response, but not heavily. However, Cav’s left brake hood comes up under Sagan’s arm, which he slowly starts to move to his right in response. Thrown off by the contact that he initiated (in part because he was running out of room), Cav immediately started to fall to his right. It’s only after Cav starts to fall that Sagan’s elbow goes out sharply, and there is not contact at that point. A penatly to Sagan would have been harsh, but disqualification was totally uncalled for.
I thought the jury made a mistake and that Cavendish tried to create a path to Sagan’s right that wasn’t really there. The crash was terrible for Cavendish and the disqualification was unfortunate for Sagan and the Tour. The best to both fine riders.
I believe Cav’s brake hood or left arm catches Sagan’s arm, causing the ‘elbow.’ I believe Cav caused the crash, and should own up to it. But I do not think that will happen.
Cavendish guilty, Sagan should till be in the tour. Cavendish was leaning into Sagan prior to the crash. Slow motion video frame by frame will should this. The penalty was given before a through analysis of the video was presented.
When will cycling become as professional as other sports and install professional instant replay technology at sprint finishes, say for the final 250 meters or even the last kilometer? The existing head-on video of the crash suffers from telephoto foreshortening (making the riders seem closer to one another than they are), and the overhead video is blocked at the crucial instant by a tree. Also, when will cycling place bunch sprint finishes on wide roads without sharp turns or road furniture in the last kilometer or two for the safety of the riders?
Look carefully in the video link below confirming that Cav’s brake hood actually pulls Sagan’s forearm/elbow out. This proves his innocence, even if it is too late.[url= https://www.facebook.com/mucyc/videos/1743409325686916/%5D%5B/url%5D
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Rather not before, but instead.
Mark Cavendish was not close enough for Peter Sagan to have seen him chasing Arnaud Demare, FDJ! P. Sagan moves to the right, and is pretty far off A. Demare’s wheel, as A. Demare goes ‘off his line’ to the left, through Alexander Kristoff’s slip-stream; nearly knocking-down Cofidis team leader/sprinter, Nacer Bouhanni!
Simultaneously, M. C’s left lever hood bumps P. S’s right elbow, attempting to overtake him on the right side, near the barrier!
P. S’s elbow-flick is a reflexive action, not an attempt to knock M. C. off bicycle.
Cofidis team leader/sprinter, Nacer Bouhanni then nearly bumps P. Sagan, as P. Sagan follows A. Demare through Alexander Kristoff’s slip-stream, crossing it to the right, to the left-middle of the road.
Note: André Greipel (Germany) Lotto Soudal team leader, also nearly knocks-down Cofidis team leader/sprinter, Nacer Bouhanni, while going right, toward P. S.!
Holding your line in a sprint is a bedrock rule of road racing, obviously he moved right and closed the door on Cav. On the other hand they could have docked points and prevented him from winning green again this year, maybe that would have been more fitting for the offense.
The disqualification was unwarranted. At most, a relegation, fine and docking of points might have been justified. But Sagan looked like the least of the offenders in the sprint as far as holding his line. The winner came all the way across the field and should have been relegated. Tough to tell what happened between Cavendish and Sagan. It looks like the initial contact was from Cavendish. Sagan may have moved off his line to the right but did he really know Cavendish was there? I have a tough time accepting that Sagan acted maliciously. More likely he was reacting instinctively to being bumped. In any case its unfathomable how you get a disqualification out of that video evidence. Bad job UCI, but I guess we have to consider the source.