Mark Cavendish experienced further Tour de France disappointment as Chris Froome struck a blow in the race for the yellow jersey ahead of Monday's third stage in Belgium.
A stormy and fractious 166-kilometres second stage from Utrecht to Zeeland ended with Cavendish fourth behind Andre Greipel and blaming his Etixx-QuickStep team-mates for his failure to win a 26th Tour stage of his career.
A year to the day since Cavendish crashed out of the Tour in his mother's hometown of Harrogate, the 30-year-old Manxman pointed the finger at leadout man Mark Renshaw for launching his sprint too early, with 300m to go.
Greipel won ahead of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek) claimed third and with it the bonus seconds which saw the Swiss take the race leader's yellow jersey ahead of Tony Martin.
Had Cavendish held on for third his Etixx-QuickStep team would have won the stage, claimed the points leader's green jersey and the maillot jaune.
Cavendish, who would have preferred to hit the front with 200m to go, said: "I think Mark went too early and kind of left me hanging. We died.
"The day Cancellara beats me in a sprint I've gone too long. I've gassed it. It's disappointing, Tony's disappointed."
There could be major repercussions for Cavendish, who is out of contract with the Belgian squad at the end of the year.
Etixx-QuickStep team boss Patrick Lefevre said: "Cavendish stopped sprinting and this costs Tony the jersey.
"I am not happy at all. Probably this was our last chance to take the yellow jersey."
Cavendish took a different view after being questioned by the media, but may not have been aware of Lefevre's comments.
Cavendish wrote on Twitter: "If I could hang on for 3rd, I could hang on for the win. Some imbeciles think cycling is a computer game."
Howling winds split the peloton, with a 26-man lead group formed comprising Cavendish, Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).
Significantly, defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) missed the split, allowing Froome and Contador to exploit their absence.
Froome finished seventh, on the same time as Greipel, and Contador 13th, four seconds behind, while Nibali and Quintana were one minute 28 seconds adrift.
Froome was excellently shepherded by two other Britons, Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas, for much of the day.
"We're two days down now and I couldn't have hoped for much more at this stage," Froome said.
"This is a huge advantage for us now; to sit in this position after one flat day.
"But it's a three-week race and things do change on a daily basis.
"There's lots in store for us for the rest of the week."
Froome's target is yellow in Paris on July 26, but Cancellara was merely thrilled to be in the maillot jaune at a sixth Tour.
The Swiss will seek a successful defence in Monday's 159.5km third stage from Antwerp to the finish atop the category three Mur de Huy, which is only 200m long.
Source: PA-WIRE
