Demare claims maiden win at the Tour de France in a crash-marred stage four

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Arnaud Demare

Arnaud Demare claimed his maiden Tour de France stage win when he powered to victory in a crash-marred finale on the fourth day.

Mark Cavendish came down in a crash at full speed within a hundred meters of the finish line after being elbowed off balance by world champion Peter Sagan, who took second place but was disqualified from the race.

Cavendish was trying to race up along the safety barrier on the right-hand side of the road.

“He was coming from behind, I did not have time to react and go left,” said Sagan, who afterwards went to Cavendish’s team bus to apologize.

John Degenkolb also crashed as he ran into Cavendish on the ground. The Briton of the Dimension Data team eventually got back on his bike and crossed the line after being attended to by race medics. Cavendish, wearing a sling, was later taken to hospital for checks on his wrist and collarbone.

The race’s yellow jersey holder, Geraint Thomas, hit the deck in a separate pile-up near the end, but as the incident occurred within the final three kilometers he will be credited with the same time as the winner.

Both Thomas and defending champion Chris Froome, who was held up behind the crash, are fine, Team Sky said.

“I went to the ground, but no serious damage,” said Thomas, who was also brought down in a crash on Sunday.

Tour de France 2017 – stage 4 results (Mondorf-les-Bains – Vittel):

1Arnaud Demare (FDJ)

4:53:54

2Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin)

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3André Greipel (Lotto Soudal)

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4Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis)

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5Adrien Petit (Direct Energie)

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6Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Soudal)

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7Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb)

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8Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates)

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9Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal)

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10Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors)

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11Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)

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12Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

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13Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors)

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14Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Soudal)

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15Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb)

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16Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie)

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17Oliver Naesen (AG2R),,
18Davide Cimolai (FDJ)

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19Grega Bole (Bahrain Merida)

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20Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors)

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General classification after stage 4:

1Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)

14:54:25

2Chris Froome (Team Sky)

+12”

3Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb)

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4Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)

+16”

5Pierre Latour (AG2R)

+25”

6Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors)

+30”

7Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky)

+32”

8Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)

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9Arnaud Demare (FDJ)

+33”

10Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb)

+34”

11Alexey Lutsenko (Astana)

+37”

12Stefan Küng (BMC)

+38”

13Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe)

+40”

14Greg Van Avermaet (BMC)

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15Daniel Martin (Quick-Step Floors)

+43”

16Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates)

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17Simon Yates (Orica-Scott)

+45”

18Daryl Impey (Orica-Scott)

+46”

19Richie Porte (BMC)

+47”

20Nairo Quintana (Movistar)

+48”

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