Cavendish angered by TV moto at Tour of Britain
Cavendish angered by TV moto at Tour of Britain
Mark Cavendish was not pleased with the way the television moto was impacting stage 6 of the Tour of Britain on Friday, and he let his thoughts be known while racing — and because he was talking to the television moto, of course, his frustrations were broadcast to anyone watching the event.
“You’re helping them!” Cavendish could be heard shouting at one point after the TV moto had provided what Cavendish deemed too much slipstream for other riders. “What’s wrong with you?”
Cavendish jumped up the road in the day’s breakaway alongside his Deceuninck-QuickStep teammate Tim Declercq and several other riders. One of them was Mark Donovan (DSM), who started the day within two minutes of race leader Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) and therefore gave the peloton more reason to chase down the move. Eventually, Declercq forced a split in the lead group, and Cavendish dropped back with Donovan, George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) and Mason Hollyman (Israel Start-up Nation).
After letting the others in the group put in work at the front, Cavendish surged ahead to bridge back up his teammate. Bennett joined him but Donovan and Hollyman did not and were left chasing. After Cavendish and Bennett got back to the front of the race, Cavendish took issue with the way the TV moto was riding in front of Donovan and Hollyman, ostensibly providing them with an aerodynamic advantage.
After initially shouting at the moto, he then took a moment to offer clearer criticism.
“For all you people at home, these motorbikes have a bearing on the race,” he said into the camera. “The guys are sat on them.”
In the end, the breakaway was ultimately caught, with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) taking the victory on the day.
Read More