Mark Cavendish is considering suing Alexander Kristoff after the Norwegian rider accused the Manxman of “crashing on purpose” during stage one of the Tour de France.

Cavendish has had to pull out of the race after the crash left him with a dislocated shoulder – the injury will also mean Cavendish has to miss the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this month.

"He has has no idea where Kristoff is coming from," said Cavendish’s agent Simon Bayliff.

"I would normally say it's best just to let some things go, but this is libellous and we are considering legal action."

The 29-year-old admitted he was at fault for causing the collision with Simon Gerrans during the climax in Harrogate and apologised to the Australian rider.

Officials made no ruling on the incident, but Kristoff said: Cavendish had "lost his head a little bit", adding: "I hope he calms down a little bit in the future."

He told cyclingnews.com: "It's not the first time he's done this. At 60kmh it's really dangerous and you can injure people, so it's not nice of him.

"In an uphill sprint you lose a bit of control sometimes."