Defending champion Chris Froome of Great Britain and two-time runner-up Nairo Quintana of Colombian finished in the main pack during the first stage in the Pyrenees.
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Yates got back on his bike and crossed the line with blood on his chin. “He could not brake and did a somersault and fell on his face”, Orica sports director Laurenzo Lapage said.
“The doctor is checking him…his shoulder is aching”.
“I’m over it, as an athlete you learn to deal with disappointment”, Cummings, 35, said.
“The most important (thing) is to gain time when you can”.
The Colombian is sixth overall 23 seconds off the pace before Sunday’s biggest Pyrenean stage up to Andorra Arcalis, where Froome is widely expected to try and hammer the opposition with one of his trademark accelerations. It could have been a lot worse with the peloton sprinting at 70 kph (45 mph).
“We had a time check at three kilometres to go, because this is not a summit finish”, explained the race director Thierry Gouvenou.
Froome leads Adam Yates and Joaquim Rodriguez by 16 seconds overall, according to provisional results.
It was Cummings’ fourth major victory this year after wins at Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour of the Basque Country and the Criterium du Dauphine.
Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara, left, and Belgium’s Jasper Stuyven, ride during the seventh stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 162.5 kilometers (100.7 miles) with start in L’Isle-Jourdain and finish in Lac de Payolle, France, Friday, July 8, 2016.
Cummings rolled across the line in just under 3 hours and 52 seconds, ahead of South Africa’s Daryl Impey and Spain’s Daniel Navarro.
Cummings, a team-mate of Mark Cavendish who has already won three stages this year, said: “I’m ecstatic for the team – it’s fantastic to race with Mark who is a such a legend and it was a brilliant day”.
French hope Thibaut Pinot suffered badly on the climb and lost around 2min 30sec.
The Beglian now holds an advantage of 6:36 over France’s Julian Alaphilippe and 6:38 over Spain’s Alejandro Valverde.
Froome s Sky, with some help from Quintana s Movistar, took up pace-setting in the peloton, mindful that Nibali, while nine minutes back from other favourites, could become a factor if given too much leeway.
On a stage defined by the yellow jersey riding in the breakaway and Steven Cumming of Dimension Data riding solo to victory, Yates was animating the action from the group of favourites. If he still has the confidence of his World Championship and double-Tour stage-winning year of 2013, he will be hard to beat.
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The Aspin, which was included in the Tour for the 73rd time, was affronted from its longer southern slope, 12 kilometres at an average gradient of 6.5 per cent.
