Aussie star Simon Gerrans brought down by Mark Cavendish as Tour de France begins in controversy

AUSTRALIA’S Simon Gerrans was brought crashing to the ground in the sprint finish of the Tour de France’s opening stage by a Mark Cavendish headbutt.

Britain's sprinter Mark Cavendish grimaces after he crashed in the last kilometers of the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 190.5 kilometers (118.4 miles) with start in Leeds and finish in Harrogate, England, Saturday, July 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Fred Mons, Pool)

BRITAIN’S dream of a fairytale start to the Tour de France came crashing to earth on the streets of Harrogate, bringing down Australia’s hopes with it.

All looked to be going to plan as the Tour came to Yorkshire for the first time, with Englishman Mark Cavendish well placed on the sprint to the finish in his mother’s home town after a 190.5km ride from Leeds in front of enormous crowds.

And Aussie fans had plenty to cheer about as well, with Orica GreenEDGE rider Simon Gerrans pedalling hard on Cavendish’s left.

Australia's Simon Gerrans and Britain's Mark Cavendish come crashing down.

GreenEDGE came into the Tour knowing it had no chance of taking the overall event, instead targeting stage two from York to Sheffield as one on which Gerrans could repeat his achievement of last year by taking the yellow jersey.

Earlier, Gerrans said he would be delighted if he could set himself up for Sheffield with a top 10 finish at Harrogate, and just 200 metres from the finish he had that, and maybe more, seemingly in his grasp.

I'm pretty sure @Mark_Renshaw got kicked out of the tour a few years back for a head but that was a lot less than that of cav's!

— Matt Goss (@mattgoss1986) July 5, 2014

But Cavendish attempted to gain space by forcing his way across Gerrans’s line, bumped shoulders, lost control of his front wheel and fell, bringing the Aussie down with him.

Replays suggested that Cavendish had enough space to make his move without pushing Gerrans.

Teammates call for medical assistance for Mark Cavendish.

While Gerrans got up with cuts and scratches and is continuing the Tour, Cavendish lay on the ground until helped onto his bike and pushed across the line by Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammates. He was taken to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone and will take no further part in the race.

With Cavendish and Gerrans creating chaos behind them, the opening stage was won for the second consecutive year by Giant-Shimano rider Marcel Kittel, ahead of Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp).

Jens Voigt, at 42 the oldest rider in the field, won the polka dot jersey as King of the Mountain after leading the first breakaway group of three less than a kilometre into the race.

A combination of pictures shows Germany's Marcel Kittel celebrating as crossing the finish line ; supporters along the road ; Kittel celebrating his yellow jersey with Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (R), Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (2ndR), and Prince Harry ; and Britain's Mark Cavendish injured after a fall.

Australian Michael Rogers, riding for Tinkoff Saxo, finished fifth. The best for Orica-GreenEDGE were Swiss rider Michael Albasini who came 10th and Aussie Simon Clarke in 15th.

GreenEDGE general manager Shayne Bannan refused to comment on the crash, other than to say, “You saw it. You can say what happened.

“We won’t be protesting. Cavendish is out of the race anyway. I prefer to talk about our own riders and it was a good performance by all of our team until we had bad luck.

“It could have been a lot worse. Simon has lost a bit of skin but he’s ok. We just stick to plan and keep going.”

The Duchess of Cambridge awards the overall race leader's yellow jersey to Marcel Kittel.