Post by El Morto La Hoja! on Jul 16, 2009 11:40:54 GMT -1
Manxman left fuming after accusation
Britain's Mark Cavendish has laughed off accusations by an unnamed rival he is "racist" and "anti-French".
The claims were published in top French newspaper L'Equipe on Friday morning - just hours after the speedy Manxman registered his fourth stage win of this year's Tour de France.
The 24-year-old said: "Someone showed me the article and I had to laugh. It's a small article by an anonymous writer and with comments from an anonymous rider.
"I've got to take it as a compliment if they've got nothing else to write about. They can't criticise my cycling, so they start this.
"I love to come here (France) and I love to come here and race. For sure I'm going to have a go at some lad - because I'm like that.
"But their nationality, and what they look like or where they come from is irrelevant."
Hard finish
Victory at the Vatan to Saint-Fargeau 11th stage saw Cavendish regain the green jersey and equal the British record of eight stage wins on the Tour.
On Tuesday the Manxman had claimed he could win as many as four more stages, including the Tour finale on July 26 and he reiterated his desire to emerge triumphant on the Champs Elysees immediately after his latest victory.
"There's only one that matters for me now and I think you all know what that is," said Cavendish.
It was a familiar sight at the end of the 192-kilometre route, as Team Columbia-HTC set up Cavendish perfectly for a sprint to the line.
And Cavendish was quick to praise the efforts of his team-mates for helping him hold off Tyler Farrar's challenge and claim his 45th professional victory.
"It's great," he added. "It was a hard finish as it was uphill. But we knew what we had to do. We knew we had to lead it out, keep it late, leave it to 150.
"So it shows just how great them lads are, just how much they can co-operate and adapt to different situations.
"We knew we had to leave it later today and adapt really quickly so we had four guys on the last km and had to leave it later to go."
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Cav's a racist
;D
