Europcar boss accuses Michael Albasini of racism

What the Swiss Racists?.. surely not I have a Swiss friend of 'Gypsy' roots in Winterthur who is the remnant of a family ground down by the forgotten holocaust who regularly used to experience shop doors slammed in her face and locked for 'early closing' not to mention the muttered under breath name calling... apparently there is no stolen nazi war swag at all in Switzerland that the Swiss need hand back to its proper owners.. no sir.. not much anyway.... Swiss Racists never they don't have any of that islamic mosque worshipping nonsense either

As a white man Albasini is automatically guilty of course.

If there was no racist remark, Albasini or Orica GE need to come out and tell exactly what was actually said. There is no way this should be settled with a handshake if there was racism involved.

There is a real possibility that Reza as the only black rider in the tour feels some level of pressure not to rock the boat. Look at what happened to Christophe Bassons.

This needs to be brought wide out into the open by the teams, or the UCI, or ASO, and properly addressed.

So if this is true then Albasini should be ashamed of himself - there is no place for racism in our sport. Period. If true then he should be booted out of the team, because we don't need him or his narrow minded opinions.

We need a quota system like every other walk of life. That'll show these bloody cyclists.

Disgusting. Needs a ban.

STAMP IT OUT ASAP! there is no place for this in our sport. Period!

I don't really see how the apology can be sincere. I mean you don't accidentally call someone that. It would never occur to me to say that. So you either think it or you don't - and if you do, maybe you should be chucked off your team.

Point about Phil Liggett noted. Mind you, most of the points he makes, you get to hear countless times. The one about number 13 being upside down, ho, ho, ho? Or Chris Horner's accident while training in Italy?

@Sam, I think the point being made is that Bernaudeau will let it go if he thinks the apology is sincere, otherwise yes, I would think it would get flagged with the UCI, who I hope have a stance on the subject.

I know it's historically a European sport, but the lack of non-white riders is a bit striking. Fortunately it's changing as the sport becomes more global, I've lost count of the number of times this month that Phil Liggett has told me about the chinese rider that's spent more time on the front than anyone else...

Should this really be up to the riders to resolve themselves? Surely the UCI or ASO have policies regarding racism. Good on Bernaudeau for being vocal about it - I don't buy Albasini's "I didn't do nuffink, Gov" statement, it's hard to believe that Réza would lie about it, especially given they popped off the break at around the same time.