Cavendish livid with rival for kamikaze approach
MARK CAVENDISH blasted Tour de France sprint rival Romain Feillu for ‘kamikaze’ tactics and insisted he should not be written off after being beaten to victory on stage three in Brittany by American Tyler Farrar.
Farrar claimed the United States’ victory on the 198-kilometres route from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon ahead of Feillu (Vacansoleil) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), who was third.
Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) – stripped of 10 points gained in the intermediate sprint for clashing with Thor Hushovd, with the yellow jersey rider also punished – was fifth and later complained of being impeded by Feillu on the final corner.
The 26-year-old said: “I was fighting with Rojas into the last corner and kamikaze Feillu came flying in.
“I thought I was going to crash. I thought I was coming down. I was 40 metres behind coming out of the last corner with no speed whatsoever.
“I went full gas. I gained 40m and finished with the front four and I gained points – it just shows my form.
“Some people will write me off as they always do, some people will write my team off as they always do, but it would take a very uneducated person to do that right now.”