Cavendish relegated for dangerous sprint
Thor Hushovd (Cervélo) might seem like a polite gentleman off the bike, but they don’t call him the “Bear from Grimstad” for nothing.
For the second day in a row, Hushovd’s emotions got the most of him at the finish line and he was screaming just moments after coming across the line in the intense battle for the green jersey.
Yesterday, after battling through the cold and snow to Colmar to regain the green jersey, Hushovd roared at Peter Velits (Milram) for pipping him at the line.
Today the target of his anger was arch-rival Mark Cavendish (Columbia), who was later delegated for irregular sprint.
Cavendish won the bunch sprint ahead of Hushovd for 13th behind the day’s winning breakaway, but Hushovd didn’t see it that way. He had a few choice words for Cavendish at the line.
“(Cavendish) tried to push me in the barriers. I could pass him, and when he saw me coming, he pushed me into the barriers. That’s not fair game,” Hushovd said. “I am really tired of this. That’s not correct what he did today. I had to brake. I could have passed him, but I had to brake. It’s OK if he’s faster than me, I accept it, when he doesn’t follow the rules, then that’s not good.”
Cervélo lodged a protest with race officials, who agreed with the big Norwegian sprinter, relegating Cavendish from 13th to 154th, last in the main bunch.
Columbia officials denied that Cavendish was doing anything so bad that he deserved to be relegated.
“I don’t see Cavendish riding anybody into the barriers, I don’t think that was his intention,” said Columbia sport director Ralf Aldag. “He was looking around to see the time because George was really close to the yellow jersey, but Cav’ is not the type of guy to ride someone into the fence.”
The relegation had an immediate impact on the hot fight for green.
Hushovd started the day just five points ahead of Cavendish. With the relegation, Hushovd gained 13 points and Cavendish took zero, meaning Hushovd widens his grip on green to 218 points to Cavendish’s 200.
Follow Andrew Hood’s twitter at twitter.com/eurohoody.
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