What Caused Mark Cavendish’s Stage 5 Crash in the Giro D’Italia? Michael Matthews Has Some Thoughts.

The Giro d’Italia’s stage five was not one that any rider wants to see repeated soon—the stage itself was marred with crashes, an incident with a dog, and finally, a finish line crash that saw Kaden Groves (Team Alpecin-Deceuninck) take the win and legendary sprinter Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team) hit the deck.

The crash-marred finish was made more noteworthy after a post-race interview by stage 3 winner Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla), who called Cavendish out for his erratic sprint at the line.

SBS Australia quoted Matthews from their video interview ahead of today’s stage, saying of Cavendish that “He needed to have a bit more respect for the people around him.”

Watch the two-minute interview with Matthews, who ultimately finished ninth place in Stage 5, here:

However, it was Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) who was relegated for causing the crash with Cavendish after cutting across the road. Cavendish apparently slid slightly on a wet white line, and that bobble created a dangerous chain reaction by Dainese.

Matthews added in his interview that he didn't think Dainese was entirely at fault, saying that Cavendish “needs to sprint more in a straight line also to make it more safe for the rest of us.”

You can judge for yourself by watching a video of the final moments of the race right here

You’ll clearly see Cavendish being pinballed across the road as the other riders dodge around him and thankfully mostly stay upright. Fortunately for Cavendish, his crash literally slid him across the line so he was still good for a fourth place finish after Dainese’ relegation.

Unfortunately, several other riders went down, and Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën) was taken away on a stretcher.

Stage 5 really put riders on notice when it comes to who could win the overall. As one Twitter user says, it's anyone’s game as long as they stay upright.

As for Cavendish, it's extremely likely that images from this crash are going to end up as a meme:

Cavendish himself already did a post with the finish cam footage poking fun at it (“Well, it’s a different photo finish picture anyway! 🫣”):

We’re just glad that the sprinter is OK. He hopped on Instagram yesterday to share that he was a bit banged up but nothing broken, and was on Stories this morning in seemingly good spirits, sharing that his mechanic was up all night prepping a new bike for him for today’s stage.

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