Peter Sagan accepts Tour de France disqualification but denies wrongdoing

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Peter Sagan spoke briefly at the Bora-Hansgrohe hotel in Vittel before heading home from the Tour de France, insisting he did not do anything wrong in the hectic stage 4 sprint that ended with Mark Cavendish crashing out and Sagan disqualified from the race.

Sagan was disqualified by UCI commissaires after they deemed that he endangered multiple riders by moving towards the barriers as Cavendish was trying to come up and follow eventual winner Arnaud Demare (FDJ). Cavendish fractured his right scapula in his shoulder and has been forced to quit the Tour de France.

Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team tried to protest against the disqualification but it was refused.

Sagan spoke to Cavendish after the crash and again apologised before heading home. However, he made it clear he did not agree with his disqualification from the Tour de France.

"What can I do? I can just accept the decision of the jury but for sure I don't agree with them because I think I didn't do something wrong in the sprint," Sagan said quietly to a scrum reporters and television cameras.

"What is bad is that Mark fell down and it's important that he can recover well. I'm sorry for that. As you see can see on the internet, it was a crazy sprint. It is not the first one like that and won't be the last one like that. So I wish to Mark to recover well and that's it."

Sagan is not expected to talk further about the crash and disqualification, with the Bora-Hansgrohe team and his entourage preferring not to react to the disqualification despite their anger and disappointment.

Cyclingnews understands Sagan will head home to Monaco and then decide his plans and goals for the rest of the season.

UCI World Champion, Peter Sagan addresses the press and makes a statement on his expulsion from the Tour de France! pic.twitter.com/NtIP5uHhXH

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