'Sticky bottle' rider gets sarcastic "chapeau" from rival who he accelerated away from

The 2023 pro cycling season truly got underway during the second stage of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var yesterday, with the first high profile 'sticky bottle' incident of the year caught on camera. Mathieu Burgaudeau and Team TotalEnergies have been heavily criticised for the move that allowed Burgaudeau to accelerate away from Ådne Holter by getting a shove from his team car, and the punishment has also been slammed by some as too lenient.  

In a contrasting variation on the sticky bottle genre compared to most of the examples we've covered in the past, Burgaudeau appears to get some serious acceleration from the car as he grabs his bottle in order to break away from Holter, described as a "hand sling" by the Eurosport/GCN commentator.

The Norwegian briefly gets out of the saddle in an attempt to stay with Burgaudeau, but this is no match for the Frenchman's fraudulent boost as he leaves Holter in the dust.

Chapeau @TeamTotalEnrg 🥰👏🏻 #GreatMove pic.twitter.com/AukF21XTW8

— Ådne Holter (@adneholter) February 18, 2023

 After the race, Holter posted the clip to Twitter and congratulated Team TotalEnergies with a "chapeau", also adding the hashtag #GreatMove. We detect a hint of sarcasm there... 

The term 'sticky bottle' was coined to describe the advantage a rider can gain by holding on for a bit longer than is needed when being handed a fresh bottle from their team car. The majority of other infamous examples we've seen before, such as Romain Bardet's stickiest of sticky bottles that got him kicked out of Paris-Nice in 2017, are executed to help riders catch back on to a group or give the legs a momentary break, rather than being used as a springboard to break away from rivals. 

"If that's the punishment everyone should be risking it"

Holter's Uno X team CEO Jens Haughland took to social media to denounce the move by Team TotalEnergies, saying: "Come on. Just race as professionals."

If that's the punishment everyone should be risking it. A joke. Imagine if he won.

— KPolanc (@KPolanc1) February 18, 2023

He also shared details of the fine handed out to Burgaudeau and his team: 200 CHF (Swiss Francs) for Team TotalEnergies' Directeur Sportif, and 100 CHF for Burgaudeau himself. This punishment has attracted fierce criticism, with some suggesting it is so lenient that teams and riders won't be put off from using team cars to gain an advantage in the future.  

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It could certainly be said that Burgaudeau and Team TotalEnergies got off lightly and took advantage with the move, as he finished 32 places and almost eight minutes clear of Holter, helping his teammate Anthony Turgis to finish in fourth place on the second stage of the category 2.1 race.

The final stage of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var is taking place today, a 131km ride from Villefranche-Sur-Mer to Vence, with Kévin Vauquelin of Arkéa–Samsic currently leading the overall standings by 7 secs over Neilson Powless of EF Education–EasyPost.