Cavendish and Martin left playing catch-up
While the Dutchman followed up Friday’s success in Chartres with a Bastille Day victory in Amiens on stage eight, Cavendish could enjoy a respite from questions over his form as there was little he could have done differently this time.
The Manxman, looking to turn around a frustrating start to the Tour, was on the wheel of Peter Sagan as the peloton rounded a left-hander on to the finishing straight with 600 metres to go.
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Hide AdBut when Sagan launched – too early as it turned out – there was no response from Cavendish as his equipment let him down.
“What can you do?” he said. “The chain comes off with 250 metres to go. At least it stops me having to think of excuses. I was in the perfect position. I was pretty happy. Coming around that corner with three kilometres to go, we knew it was pretty sketchy. I lost my leadout men but I was all right.”
After catching Sagan, Quick-Step Floors’ Fernando Gaviria and Lotto-Soudal’s Andre Greipel clashed and were both relegated, but though the German reacted angrily on Twitter his punishment was for a seperate incident involving Team Sunweb’s Nikias Arndt.
The decision moved Sagan up to second, with Trek-Segafredo’s John Degenkolb third. Cavendish was elevated to eighth. BMC’s Greg Van Avermaet retained the yellow jersey.
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Hide AdIt was a costly and bruising day for UAE Team Emirates’ Dan Martin, who was caught in a crash with 17km to go.
The Irishman, winner of stage six on the Mur-de-Bretagne, rode home with blood pouring from his elbow and finished 76 seconds down.