Intimidation and Outrage: Tour de France Sprints Just Got Ugly

The first sprint beef of the Tour de France bubbled up Saturday when tempers boiled as hot as the temperatures in the stage 8 bunch kick.

Two riders were cited by UCI officials for “intimidation” in the sprint while a third blew his top at a rival.

Because while Tim Merlier made it look easy Saturday with his second win in a row, the stage into Bergerac finished a hot mess.

Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) was warned by officials for “intimidation” after he and Soren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) wrestled their way around a series of right-handers in the final kilometers of the stage.

Overhead footage shows the sprinters shoulder-to-shoulder at repeated moments as they fought for position ahead of the final acceleration.

Wærenskjold didn’t hold back when he was asked about the altercation.

“He [Girmay] pushes like crazy. It makes me pretty angry. He pushed me throughout the entire corner,” Wærenskjold told TV2. “It was really irritating.

“He bumped into me several times and rode like a complete idiot.”

Wærenskjold was already out of position at the decisive final right-hander. However, the burly Norseman appears to have been pushed further off his line after a not-so-subtle barge by Bini.

Having already finished second in the bunch sprint behind Merlier on Friday, Wærenskjold could barely contain his rage at missing out again on Saturday.

“I was too far back and lost my momentum through the corner. I think the incident needs to be reviewed,” he said. “He [Girmay] behaves like an idiot the whole way.

“It’s desperate riding, and it is totally undeserved that he finishes ahead of me.”

Girmay told Eurosport on Saturday afternoon that it was bunch sprint chaos as the peloton closed in on the finish.

After a day swealtering in the sun, tempers were frayed. And with the next guaranteed sprint not arriving until stage 11 next Wednesday, the stakes were extra-high.

“We took the last 500 meters so fast. It was the last moment, and nobody braked,” Girmay said. “A guy from Uno-X [i.e. Wærenskjold] went into my handlebars.

‘Luckily I saved it, but I lost a lot of speed. That cost me.”

Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) was also warned by UCI officials for “intimidation” in the sprint on Saturday in an incident not caught on TV cameras.

Here’s hoping tempers – and temperatures – cool down before the next mass kick at this Tour de France.