Mark Cavendish lived to fight another day in the race for the green jersey after escaping without punishment despite being at the center of controversy when Dutch rider Tom Veelers was sent crashing to the ground at the end of stage 10 of the Tour de France.

Video footage appeared to show the Isle of Man star catching Veelers when their arms came together on a bend 150m from the finish to the stage in the Brittany port town of Saint-Malo, sending the Argos team rider crashing to the ground.

While the race jury fined Garmin rider Andrew Talansky of the US 100 Swiss Francs ($103) for "eating in a way that damages the image of cycling," it made no decision on the crash that lit up the finish.

During a media scrum outside the Omega-Pharma team bus, Cavendish snatched and threw a journalist's tape recorder when asked if he thought the crash was his fault.

"The road was bearing left and all I did is follow the road," he said.

Cavendish was third on the day, just ahead of Peter Sagan, who remains the odds-on favorite to retain the green jersey.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 07/11/2013 page24)