Dan Martin’s Garmin-Sharp team have endured more than most in the opening week of the Tour de France but matters worsened yesterday when their team manager Jonathan Vaughters was taken to task before the stage start in Rouen about reports in a Dutch newspaper that some of his riders had received six-month bans after confessing to doping.

Irish duo Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) survived another day of carnage at the Tour de France yesterday but world champion Mark Cavendish wasn’t so lucky as he crashed heavily inside the final three kilometres on the run-in to the finish in Rouen.

Vincenzo Nibali retained the lead in the Vuelta a Espana as Peter Velits won today’s individual time trial in Penafiel, his first stage win of the season.

FLOYD LANDIS never saw the stump that sent him flying. Landis strayed from the track into a patch of weeds while screaming down a steep descent during his first lap at the 24 Hours of Canaan, a mountain bike relay race in West Virginia.