Mark Cavendish's Tour de France campaign hands by a thread after he sustained a suspected broken collarbone after crashing in the first stage as Marcel Kittel sprinted to victory to take the yellow jersey in Harrogate.

Cavendish sustained the potentially race-ending injury in his hometown after a collision in the final straight of the opening stage in Yorkshire.

Kittel, of the Giant-Shimano team, finished ahead of Peter Sagan while Team Sky's Chris Froome, the 2013 champion, finished sixth in a solid start to his defence of the yellow jersey.

But the stage was overshadowed by the injury picked up by Cavendish, who was wheeled across the finish holding his shoulder, which could prematurely end his hopes of contesting for the green sprinting jersey in 2014.