Drama as SA’s Di Data sweat over their Tour de France ace

Local team Dimension Data could be without key sprinter Mark Cavendish for the rest of the Tour de France, after the British rider was sent to hospital on Tuesday following a late crash on the fourth stage of the three-week contest.

Involved in a collision with Slovak rider Peter Sagan, who was later disqualified from the race, a battered and bruised Cavendish had hurt his shoulder and hand after crashing into the barrier in the finishing straight.

The extent of his injuries were unclear.

“I’m ok, I’m in a little bit of pain, I’ll go for some more tests now, we’ll see,” Cavendish told a scrum of reporters outside his Dimension Data team’s bus.

“In terms of pain, I’ve done my shoulder twice before and I’m in more pain now than I was for one of my shoulders – that doesn’t make me too optimistic, just on feeling, but I’m not a doctor.”

Cavendish had taken fourth place on stage two at the weekend, bouncing back from a lengthy injury layoff, as the former world champion again promised to spearhead the SA-registered outfit at the Grand Tour race.

Dimension’s doctor Adrian Rotunno could not immediately confirm whether Cavendish would be fit to start Wednesday’s stage.

“The radiology (X-ray) doesn’t reveal any dislocations or fractures but we need to see the further imaging just to exclude any more subtle injuries,” he said.

“Apart from a few abrasions and some lacerations he’s doing fine.”

Meanwhile, organisers had little hesitation in suspending Sagan.

“We’ve decided to disqualify Peter Sagan from the Tour de France 2017 as he endangered some of his colleagues seriously in the final metres of the sprint which happened in Vittel,” said the president of the race commission, Philippe Marien.

While Cavendish was left sprawled on the road, teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway managed to avoid two late collisions.

He finished 11th on the 207.5km leg from Mondorf-les-Baines to Vittel, with Frenchman Arnaud Demare (FDJ) winning a late sprint to take the stage victory.

Following Sagan’s disqualification, the Norwegian rider climbed one place to fourth overall.

South African Daryl Impey, turning out for Orica-Scott, crossed the line in 38th place on the stage.

Impey was lying 18th in the general classification, 45 seconds off the pace of British leader Geraint Thomas.

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