It has been confirmed that Mark Cavendish will now miss the Commonwealth Games, set to begin in Glasgow on July 23, as a result of the injuries sustained in the closing minutes of the first stage of the Tour de France. The Omega Pharma – Quick-Step rider suffered a dislocated shoulder and damaged ligaments falling heavily in the sprint finish on Saturday and his rehabilitation following surgery is expected to take at least six weeks. Cavendish comments: ‘…at the moment all I can do is focus 100% of my effort on my recovery, to be able to get back racing as quickly as possible.’ In an oblique reference to the fact that Cavendish also caused him to crash, Orica-GreenEDGE’s Simon Gerrans Tweeted yesterday, ‘Well I certainly had some ups and downs the past 3 days racing in the UK, but it was an awesome experience all the same. #TDF’
Whilst Gerrans may have put the incident behind him, having accepted Cavendish’s apology, it’s potentially not the end of the matter with Norway’s Alexander Kristoff making his own views clear that it was a case of ‘crashing on purpose.’ Cavendish’s agent Simon Bayliff has suggested that they are considering legal action against the Team Katusha rider.
