Mark Cavendish has revealed the reason he stopped on the climb of The Struggle in Cumbria during Monday’s Stage 2 of the Tour of Britain to talk with a spectator.
Television coverage showed the Dimension Data rider remonstrating with a young man on the tough climb, shortly after he had finished a turn at the front of the main group on behalf of team mate Steve Cummings.
.@MarkCavendish taking a moment to have a word with a spectator… pic.twitter.com/ll83wFYig0
— BIKE (@BIKEchannelUK) September 5, 2016
> Tour of Britain: Cav stops to ‘have a word’ with spectator
Speaking to ITV ahead of the start of yesterday’s Stage 3, the 31-year-old revealed that the spectator, showing off in front of his friends, had been “shouting abuse” at the riders.
Insisting “there was no aggression,” Cavendish added that he offered his bike to the youngster with the suggestion that he attempt the climb himself – one that seemed to have been declined.
The sprinter was missing from the group that contested the finish of today’s Stage 4 in Builth Wells, won by Dutch champion Dylan Groenewegen of LottoNL-Jumbo from Great Britain’s Dan McLay, with Ben Swift of Team Sky third.
19 thoughts on “Mark Cavendish reveals why he stopped to have word with Tour of Britain spectator (+ video)”
If it were me, I would have
If it were me, I would have taken him up on the offer and left him stranded there without a bike. I’d like to have seen his reaction then!
shearer27 wrote:
Yes, but if that lad tried it he would have fallen off in seconds!
khisanth wrote:
True, but it would have made great TV!
I think Cav made his point
I think Cav made his point well – nice and calmly. Why turn up to support a race and then shout abuse! Hope the guy rethinks his whole attitude to life or goes back to supporting fussball!
I saw Cav end up under a pile
I saw Cav end up under a pile of bikes and riders on Stage 1 in Castle Douglas, made me realise how brave the riders are. He was remarkablyrestrained with that waste of space .
It’s pro cycling, not
It’s pro cycling, not football. Should’ve given the kid a slap
Cupov wrote:
Now, now, This isn’t Froome backhanding some Columbia on the Continent. This is Britain.
Leviathan wrote:
So…stab him?
That kid is a twat. What sort
That kid is a twat. What sort of fucktard turns down a free Cervelo S5?!
Bowks wrote:
Good call. You’ve just given me my next route to an upgrade! 😉
Not sure I could make a decent breakaway on it though.
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
Yeah but if you turn up wearing your cycling shoes, you’re onto a winner!!
No need to save for that pro
No need to save for that pro bike, just call your cycling hero names.
He should have told anorak
He should have told anorak boy to go back to dungeons and dragons
mickcee wrote:
DnD is cool again. You didn’t see Stranger Things yet?
Who said you had to go with
Who said you had to go with the peleton, I’d take the bike and escape downhill….
PRINCIPIA PHIL wrote:
Straight into the team cars, good luck with that.
Also, it’s PELOTON.
Me too. He’d have hunted you
Me too. He’d have hunted you down and kicked your head in…
Aw come on, have some
Aw come on, have some sympathy for the poor kid. He obviously has so little in his life that he has to try to get some kudos by getting his mum to buy him the same trainers he’s seen on the cool kids at school, then shouting nah nah na-na naah at pro cyclists. It was kind of Cav to give the boy’s self-esteem a boost by telling him off. That look the boy gave afterwards is like the one you used to see at school when your mate had been cheeky to a teacher and got told off, ‘Hey look at me, aren’t I the big brave man?’ Then you all run off giggling.
I was right next to this
I was right next to this incident, about 3m up the hill. I didn’t hear the fan didn’t shout abuse at anyone. Cav was on the other side of the road and slowed right asking no-one in particular if they’d heard ‘the F***ing c**t ‘, then he turned around and went back to talk to the fan. All very silly really.