Tour de France - Cavendish accused of 'racist' remarks

Eurosport - Wed, 15 Jul 14:18:00 2009

Briton Mark Cavendish has been accused of using racist language against some of the host riders at the Tour de France, according to L'Equipe newspaper.

CYCLING 2009 Tour de France Cavendish - 0

The Isle of Man rider is considered the world's fastest road sprinter, however his "arrogance", according to the report, is increasingly annoying more of the local riders in the peloton.

Cavendish has already been accused of not doing his share of the work in the 'grupetto', the slow bunch of non-climbers which usually works together to get through the difficult mountains stages.

But some French riders claim to have also been racially insulted by the 24-year-old, who claimed his third stage from this year's race when he won stage 10 at Issoudun to take his career tally to seven.

Speaking anonymously to L'Equipe for fear of tactical reprisals by Cavendish and his Columbia team, the riders said they have just about had enough.

"Cavendish is racist, he's anti-French," said one rider. "He should be careful. We're not going to put up with his attitude much longer."

AFP

Comment 1 - 13 of 53

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  1. Anti-French eh...

    I say let france talk to­ Germany..:-)

    From jjonessec, on Wed 15 Jul 4:27PM

  2. Ooops, 'arrogant' cav won again. Good on him. ­ The French don't like it when someone else is­ winning (although you'd think they's be used to­ it by now). Look at the abuse they give Armstrong. Of­ course he's arrogant...all sprinters are. And as­ for not having any competition, perhaps he just makes­ the others look ordinary?

    From geoffrew64, on Wed 15 Jul 4:22PM

  3. here we go again more winey frenchmen get over the fact­ hes the fastest guy and just keeps on winning stages!!­ allez king cav!!

    From djwiners, on Wed 15 Jul 4:20PM

  4. chrisa1949 - no way will you hear criticisms about­ Wiggins, because he is not an arrogant big head.­ He's a thoughtful, accomplished all-round rider,­ not a young turk with a chip on his shoulder and a­ petulant attitude.

    Gabhan - you are wrong. Nationality­ is covered by the race relations act and is deemed to­ be racism.

    From fotodelicto, on Wed 15 Jul 3:46PM

  5. Mark attitude is pretty bad, he needs to wind his neck­ in! He's a one-trick donkey! There are a lot of­ talented guys in cycling with far more depth to their­ skills. Mark is fast but he's never been up­ against any other good sprinters. Ludwig, Museeuw, Tom­ Steels, Abdu, Cipo, MckEwan, OGrady, Zabel... the list­ goes on, these guys all sprinted against each other­ over the years but Mark has no rivals around him. ­

    Mark, please lose your attitude, you're not doing­ yourself any favours! He should learn from the­ mistakes made by Cadel Evans and try to make friends­ not enemies!

    From mcreedle1, on Wed 15 Jul 3:36PM

  6. Gabhan, your comment was right. I don't know why­ you got thumbs down for that. Cav is an arrogant fool,­ who will regret it one day, when he grows up.

    From webbski, on Wed 15 Jul 3:31PM

  7. The only time the French start these rumours is when­ there own riders are rubbish.They used to make­ allegations about Armstrong,now it will be Cavendish­ and Wiggens.And if it isn't our sportsmen it will­ be our Lamb and Fish!! The French are at there happiest­ when knocking the English!

    From chrisa1949, on Wed 15 Jul 3:30PM

  8. We still don't know what exactly did Cavendish say­ to the french riders!? Please be acurate in­ reporting,
    Oldrich

    From OLDRICH, on Wed 15 Jul 3:29PM

  9. French newspaper, French riders making the claims. its­ obvious that you cant believe everything you read in­ the papers especially L,equipe. The French hate the­ British just as much as the British hate them and it­ would not supprise me that this story has been made up­ to make the French crowds turn on Cav. Sounds like a­ case of sore loosers to me. stop moaning and beat him­ instead of making up lies

    From heavenmichael, on Wed 15 Jul 3:24PM

  10. "Cavendish is racist, he's­ anti-French,"

    last time i checked, French­ isn't race. he's just a jerk, not a racist.

    From Gabhan, on Wed 15 Jul 2:58PM

  11. Its not racist to be anti-French. Edward III, the Black­ Prince and Henry V wereall anti-French but I dont think­ that made them racist.

    From ahscorer, on Wed 15 Jul 2:58PM

  12. Would be great to see the grupetto drop him in the­ Alps. But, I'm sure he'll have at least one­ babysitter with him.

    From James, on Wed 15 Jul 2:35PM

  13. He should be careful. We're not going to put up­ with his attitude much longer."

    Hope he gets­ whats coming to him if the story is true

    From Creaven91, on Wed 15 Jul 2:27PM
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