Roche and Martin stay out of trouble

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.

Roche and Martin managed to stay upright after a collision in the finale saw several riders hit the deck. Though they were held up behind, UCI rules dictate that because they were inside the final three kilometres of the race, they were attributed the same time as stage winner Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol).

Roche rolled over the line in 55th position and subsequently dropped one place to 21st on general classification, while Martin was slightly further back in 72nd, 87th overall.