Mark Cavendish has been forced to withdraw for this year’s Tour de France after fracturing his shoulder blade in the late crash on stage 4.
What looked to be a strong comeback to racing for Cavendish, is now over before it really began. Medical examinations at the hospital in Nancy, France, has confirmed that the Manxman has fractured his right shoulder blade after colliding with Peter Sagan and crashing against the barriers in the final sprint in Vittel.
Adrian Rotunno – Dimension Data Team doctor: “Mark suffered a fracture to the right scapula. Fortunately, no surgery is required at this stage, and most importantly there is no nerve damage. He’s been withdrawn from the race for obvious medical reasons, and we’ll continue monitoring him over the coming days“.
Mark Cavendish said: “I’m obviously massively disappointed to get this news about the fracture. The team was incredible today. They executed to perfection what we wanted to do this morning. I feel I was in a good position to win and to lose that and even having to leave the Tour, a race I’ve built my whole career around, is really sad. I wish the best of luck to my teammates for the rest of the race. Now, I’m looking forward to watching the race on TV, seeing the team fly the flag high for South Africa and raise awareness for Qhubeka”.
