Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Video: Tour of Turkey turns punchy as Gruzdev takes a swing at Zhupa

Unexplained break-out of mid-race fisticuffs

The metaphorical rough and tumble of professional bike racing turned a bit too real in yesterday's fifth stage of the Tour of Turkey when Astana rider Dmitriy Gruzdev threw a punch at Eugert Zhupa of Southeast Pro Cycling.

As the stage reaches the 70km mark on its journey from Mugla to Pamukkale, Gruzdev pulls over to the side of the road as the peloton tackles a climb.

He stops, and when Zhupa, who was right behind him on the road, comes past appears to punch him in the abdomen.

The two face off for a moment before Gruzdev rides away.

It's not know what spurred Gruzdev's behaviour but he was subsequently suspended for it.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

Add new comment

2 comments

Avatar
Kadinkski | 9 years ago
0 likes

Drug deal gone sour?

Avatar
farrell | 9 years ago
0 likes

Roid Rage.

Latest Comments