adminBASTIA – Mark Cavendish was among the most outspoken in his criticism as members of the Tour de France peloton turned their anger towards race organisers after Saturday’s opening stage was marred by a series of crashes. The 213-kilometre ride from Porto-Vecchio to Bastia, the first stage ever to be held on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, was won in a sprint finish by Germany’s Marcel Kittel of the Argos-Shimano team.
But his victory became something of a footnote at the end of a chaotic final 20 kilometres as the peloton flew along the narrow roads leading in to Bastia.
The confusion was caused when the bus of the Orica-GreenEdge team became stuck under the gantry at the finish line, forcing organisers to propose moving the line forward three kilometres before it was eventually moved into a safe position.
As the peloton approached the finish, they began to up the pace in preparation for the new conclusion to the stage, only to be caught out by the decision to revert to the original plan.
A whole host of riders, including Spain’s two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador, last year’s green jersey winner Peter Sagan of Slovakia, and former world time trial champion Tony Martin went down in a mass crash six kilometres from the line, with the latter coming off by far the worst.-Supersport.
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derick.khumalo