Tour de France 2017: Peter Sagan loses appeal to be reinstated

Mark Cavendish (left) hit the barriers after tangling with Peter Sagan

World champion Peter Sagan has failed in an appeal to be reinstated in the 2017 Tour de France.

The Slovak was disqualified after causing a crash which ended Briton Mark Cavendish's involvement in the race.

Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) and wanted Sagan to rejoin the race, two days after being sent home.

"Peter Sagan remains disqualified from the 2017 Tour de France," Cas said.

It added: "The Court of Arbitration of Sport issued a decision rejecting an urgent request filed by the Slovak cyclist Peter Sagan."

Cavendish suffered a broken shoulder in the collision on stage four in Vittel and was forced to pull out.

• Cavendish has "no personal feelings" against Sagan

Sagan and his team insist he did not see Cavendish as the Manxman tried to race up the inside by the barriers and was not to blame for Tuesday's crash.

They argue Sagan was given no opportunity to put forward his side of the story and should, therefore, be immediately reinstated.

He was initially docked 30 seconds before the race jury reviewed the footage and upgraded his punishment to disqualification, ending his bid to win the Tour's green jersey for the leader of the points classification for a record-equalling sixth straight year.