Peter Sagan has been disqualified from the Tour De France after his involvement in a crash with Mark Cavendish on the 4th stage of the Tour.
Sagan had finished second on the stage but the Slovakian appeared to intentionally nudge Cavendish with an elbow in their sprint finish towards the line.
The two-time World cycling champion has won the points competition in the Tour De France for the last five years and is widely considered as one of cycling’s most prodigious talents. The 27-year-old was fancied to win the green jersey again this year and his absence will be a huge blow to the Tour.
Sagan was initially docked 30 seconds and 80 points in the Green Jersey competition. However, the jury went on to analyse the video footage for several hours before announcing his disqualification.
“We’ve decided to disqualify Peter Sagan from the Tour de France 2017,” an official from the race jury announced.
The stage was won by French man Arnaud Demare but was marred by this incident.
Fellow sprinters John Degenkolb and Ben Swift were brought down by the flattened Cavendish in the dramatic climax.
The footage doesn’t do Sagan any favours, as he visibly appears to swerve towards Cavendish who was perilously close to the banners on the side of the road.
.@arnaudemare s'impose après une chute de Cavendish / @arnaudemare wins the stage, Cavendish crashed #TDF2017 @vittel pic.twitter.com/93HGr6XETq
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 4, 2017
Sagan is a very divisive figure in cycling and it’s not the first time he has been involved in controversy.
Exhibit A.
Peter, it’s not very clever to pinch a podium girl’s butt.
Exhibit B.
He had the wedding of all weddings.
Peter Sagan's wedding looked a health and safety nightmare. pic.twitter.com/GLmb1F3HWB
— Karl Whitney (@karlwhitney) July 4, 2017
He crossed the line on Tuesday, that’s for sure.
