Green jersey favourite Peter Sagan has been disqualified from the 2017 Tour de France for his part in a crash involving Mark Cavendish at the end of Stage 4.
Initial suggestions had been that Sagan would be relegated by 30 seconds in the day's results, effectively stripping him of his second place finish and the points that come with it.
However, a message then appeared on the Tour's official Twitter account announcing that the Slovakian had been ejected from the Tour.
Coming into the final metres of the stage, Sagan had swung across the road in pursuit of eventual winner Arnaud Démare (FDJ), apparently not realising Cavendish was following, and forcing him into the barrier.
Cavendish went down heavily and at this stage it’s not known if he will be able to continue the race. He was seen leaving the area with his arm in a sling.
What likely prompted the race organisers decision was they way in which Sagan apparently pushed with his elbow upon contacting Cavendish.
’I get on with Peter well, but I don’t get ... if he came across is one thing, but the elbow. I’m not a fan of him putting his elbow in me like that,’ Cavendish said in comments reported by The Guardian.
’A crash is a crash, I’d just like to know about the elbow, really. I’d just like to speak to him about it.’
Following the end of the stage the pair spoke and Sagan went to Cavendish’s Dimension Data team bus to apologise in person. However, it appears he is now off the race regardless.