Mark Cavendish: Quick-Step rider 'lucky' injuries are not serious after Tour of Oman crash

The crash left Cavendish with rips in his shorts after he rolled across the road

Mark Cavendish escaped with only grazes and bruises after a fall during the penultimate stage of the Tour of Oman on Monday.

"I had a touch of wheels and unfortunately I came down quite heavily," said Cavendish.

Czech rider Jan Hirt won the stage after a summit finish and took the overall lead in the race.

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sprinter Cavendish added: "I am lucky that my injuries seem to not be too bad and I was able to get on my bike."

Tuesday's final stage is expected to be a sprint finish, giving the 36-year-old, who has 34 Tour de France stage wins, a chance of taking both the stage and the sprint points classification.

Cavendish won stage two of the race and was second on the first stage.

Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert rider Hirt broke away in the final two kilometres of the 150.5km stage which ended with a 5.7km climb up to the summit finish on Jabal Al Akhdar, known as the 'Green Mountain'.

It was the 31-year-old's first win since the 2016 Tour of Austria and he leads French rider Kevin Vauquelin, of Team Arkea-Samsic, by 39 seconds in the overall standings.