Sky duo should be ready to go in Tour's stage five
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Mark Cavendish (Sky) finishes stage 4 several minutes down after being involved with a large crash inside the final 3 kilometres.(Image credit: Sirotti)
World champion Mark Cavendish (Sky) makes his way to the finish line after a heavy crash inside of 3 kilometres to go.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Bernhard Eisel (Sky) was one of the riders to hit the tarmac inside of 3 kilometres to go during the finale of stage 4.(Image credit: Sirotti)
A battered Mark Cavendish (Sky) finishes in Rouen after crashing heavily in the stage 4 finale.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish (Sky) was one of the riders who hit the tarmac in a crash which shattered the field in the closing kilometres of stage 4.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish would have been a favourite to win in Rouen, but instead he rolled across the finish line several minutes in arrears of Greipel nursing wounds from a late crash.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
World champion Mark Cavendish (Sky) was one of many riders invovled in the crash in the stage 4 finale.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Bernhard Eisel (Sky) is given medical attention following the crash which disrupted the stage 4 finish.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
"Mark's all right – he's scraped, bumped and bruised, but he's OK. Bernie's got a big chunk out of the top of his eyebrow. There's quite a big hole and he's having it stitched, but hopefully he'll be OK. At this moment in time I expect them both to be able to continue," said Brailsford at the finish line.
"They did give an idea of what happened but I'm not sure I can repeat exactly what was said. Emotions run high straight after crashes and we need to let everyone calm down and go from there. What's happened has happened and it's all about getting everyone fit and well for tomorrow and ready to go again."
Brailsford once again stressed that the team's overriding objective is to safely negotiate the first week of the race. "We're seeing crashes every day but once we're through these first six days the race starts going uphill and hopefully it will calm down a little bit," he said.
"But this is another day gone. They're all still on their bikes. Another two days to go before we reach the hills, and we'll see how things go from there."
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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014).
