Sagan is 4/7 for the green jersey - surely that's a safe investment as he only loses it if he falls off
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Cav looks to be going home, then. Not sure I agree with the 'Sagan elbowed him' hysteria, though.
Looks like a simple collision to me.
Have to agree, the elbow was reactionary, not purely an aggressive move and didn't come anywhere near to connecting. Online footage FPS is generally too low to see it in context - the frames SDK linked kinda show how 'late' it was as an aggressive move. I'd say it was more 'closing the door' to the barriers to stop anyone coming past/over the top of him as he opened his sprint, rather than an intentional move to push Cav into the barriers.
Sagan cutting across Cav's line is what caused the crash, not the elbow and is hopefully what he's being penalised for. OK he can argue that he was jumping onto Demare's wheel, but he equally didn't need to close the gap to the barriers to do so. He had tons of space in front and to his left, there seemed to be little reason to cut right.
I agree with Bear, have a look in the footage, Demare cuts across Bouhanni towards the middle of the road ruining Bouhanni's sprint. Nobody came down but it was just as stupid/reckless a move as Sagan's, it even causes Rowelandts to swerve away. I know he wasn't sprinting (just dropping Greipel off) but it gives you an idea of how riders reflexes and reactions are amplified by moves like that. If Sagan is getting DQ'd for a reckless move, then Demare should too. Although they had different outcomes, both moves were equally reckless.
Not withstanding that, it's great that Demare won and we had a (mostly) contested sprint even with the earlier crash, but with less riders they still seemed to run out of room & road cutting across lines and pushing each other around (and into barriers).
They have said they're looking closely at the sprints this year so the sprinters should've been more aware of slamming doors shut, cutting each other up and barging each other rather than just pure sprinting. Maybe this is the wake-up some of them need to clean up their act and clean up sprinting. The last few years it's got progressively worse, with sometimes almost dirty tactics being used, yet brushed off as 'racing incidents'. I've never been totally convinced about some of them being 'clean' racing incidents if I'm honest.
As i see it there are a few reasons for disqualification. 1) To keep other riders safe, 2) to highlight the severity of the situation and make sure everyone's aware of how serious deviating in a sprint can be, 3) to manage certain riders egos and make sure they understand they're not above the law, and 4) to allow for a sprint and points competition in the race that's more in line with what the french organisers wanted anyway. Some naturally more justified than others, but it's an understandable decision.
I'd like to think as they're 'looking closely' at sprints this year that it's mostly (2). But lets be honest, the UCI like to occasionally make examples of riders to prove and to show they're still 'in command' so it could equally be (3). I'd hate it to be (4).
