MARK CAVENDISH’S quest to win the green jersey in the Tour de France was left hanging by a thread when he was relegated to last place in the bunch sprint at the end of yesterday’s 14th stage from Colmar to Besan.

The 24-year-old from the Isle of Man won his fourth stage of the Tour in Saint-Fargeau on Thursday, proving he is the fastest sprinter in the race, but he is finding the task of winning the green jersey less straightforward. He trailed the Norwegian rider Thor Hushovd by five points going into yesterday’s stage, but is now 18 points behind following his relegation.

The green jersey is worn by the leader of the points competition, which favours the sprinters who are able to consistently finish high up in the stages. Points are awarded to the first 25 riders over the line on the flat stages, with the top 15 scoring on hilly days.

Cavendish, who rides for the Columbia-HTC team, has been locked in a battle with Hushovd of Cervelo, but yesterday’s disqualification is a serious blow as there is only one good opportunity to make up the deficit in the final week of the Tour. That will come at the end of the last stage on the Champs-Elysees in Paris a week today. If there is no change in the standings as the race crosses the Alps this week, Cavendish knows he will have to win the stage and hope Hushovd finishes outside the top ten. It is a tall order.

It was not a good day for the Columbia team. Their rider George Hincapie came within a handful of seconds of taking the yellow jersey for the first time in his career, but was denied in part by his own team, who had to balance their priorities as they sought to set up Cavendish for the sprint at the head of the bunch. Columbia’s rival American squad Garmin-Slipstream also chased hard, but claimed they had been working to keep their overall contenders Bradley Wiggins and Christian Vande Velde out of trouble rather than simply to deny Hincapie.

Hincapie was part of the day’s 12-man break which went clear and was allowed to gain a lead of more than 10 minutes at one point. The American was the best placed overall and needed to finish five minutes and 26 seconds clear of the bunch to take the yellow jersey from Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy.

The Russian Serguei Ivanov attacked the rest of the break with seven kilometres to go and powered home alone to win the stage. Ireland’s Nicolas Roche led home the rest 16 seconds later, with Hincapie in eighth place. Then all eyes were on the clock. Columbia had a dilemma. On the one hand they wanted to set-up Cavendish to win the bunch sprint for 13th place, which would give him 13 points and help him to trim Hushovd’s lead. But they also wanted to stall the peloton to allow Hincapie to take the race lead.

Cavendish did win the sprint for 13th, but crossed the line six seconds too soon for his team-mate Hincapie, keeping Nocentini in yellow for an eighth day when the race heads to Verbier in the Swiss Alps today. Hushovd came home in 14th and so Cavendish thought he had cut the deficit to just four points.

However, there was to be another twist. Columbia’s stalling tactics went down badly with the Cervelo team. They claimed Cavendish had blocked Hushovd and the race officials agreed, relegating Cavendish to last place in the bunch, 154th, and leaving him out of the points.

Hincapie moved up to second overall, with another of the breakaway riders, Christophe Le Mevel of France, moving up to fifth. This knocked Britain’s Bradley Wiggins down to sixth overall, although he remains only 46 seconds behind the race leader, Nocentini.

Meanwhile, the Tour was hit by tragedy yesterday when a 61-year-old female spectator was killed and two other people were injured when they were hit by a police motorcycle. The woman was hit as she crossed the road in the town of Wittelsheim. The motorcycle then slid and collided with the other two people It has been a bad couple of days for the race. On Friday two riders were shot during the stage from Vittel to Colmar by somebody using an air gun. Spanish rider Oscar Freire of the Rabobank team was hit in the lower thigh while descending the Col du Platzerwasel and the team’s doctor had to cut a pellet out of his flesh and treat the wound.

The New Zealand rider Julian Dean, of the Garmin-Slipstream team, was also hit.

His team manager, Jonathan Vaughters, said he hoped there would be no more incidents. Tour officials were playing down the shooting yesterday for fear of inadvertently encouraging copycat incidents, saying it was an unprecedented event.

Two teenagers were reportedly arrested by police and questioned about the matter. It is the first time the Tour de France has been attacked by somebody with a weapon. In 1975, five-time champion Eddy Merckx was punched in the kidney region by a spectator during a climb in the Massif Central.

Standings
1 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R, 53hr 30min 30sec
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana, 6 sec behind
3 Lance Armstrong (US) Astana, 8sec
4 Bradley Wiggins (GB) Garmin, 46sec
5 Andreas Kloden (Ger) Astana, 54sec
6 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia, 1min
7 Christian Vande Velde (US) Garmin, 1min 24sec
8 Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank, 1min 49sec
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas, 1min 54sec
10 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne, 2min 16sec