MARK CAVENDISH missed out on Tour de France glory – after going the wrong way at a roundabout.
Following a chaotic finish on Tuesday, the Manx Missile came home in fifth place in the relatively flat 181.8km Stage Four, which went from Dax to Nogaro.
It was the second of five pure bunch sprints over three weeks in which Cav is targeting that record-breaking 35th stage win.
Yet the retiring rider’s situation was not helped with 5.5km to go when his Astana Qazaqstan Team took the long and wrong turn at a roundabout.
Cavendish, 38, said: “Everybody and every team had a plan but it didn’t come to fruition in the final. There was no team in control.
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“It became chaos in the final, the corners got tighter, it was a mixing pot of riders. There was a crash as well.
“What can I do? I could have maybe given myself a better shot. There was also a headwind.
“I audibly said a swear word before I started even sprinting. I made the most of it. I knew I couldn’t win once they got the jump on me.
“I was worried at the roundabout. We planned to go on the left, that was always the key, we were told that on the radio.
“I wanted to go that way but there was also the risk of hitting it.
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"So we went right and you are better to stay safe and upright, rather than gamble and hit the kerb.”
Belgian cyclist Jasper Philipsen won a second stage in a row and Brit Adam Yates remains top of the General Classification with his six-second advantage still intact.
