Wout van Aert regrets that on Wednesday after the finish of the eleventh stage in the Tour de France he raised his middle finger to Peter Sagan, who gave him a shoulder push during the mass sprint. The Slovak still thinks he has done nothing wrong.
Van Aert appeared to win the sprint in Poitiers, but fell back when the onrushing Sagan pushed him from the right with his shoulder. The rider of Jumbo-Visma lost speed and finished fourth, although he moved one place in the final result due to the penalty from Sagan.
The incident naturally led to frustration for Van Aert, who raised his middle finger in the direction of Sagan after the meet. The two-time stage winner of this Tour ended up with a fine of 200 Swiss francs (about 186 euros).
“Sagan’s action was too dangerous, but on the other hand my reaction was not good. It is right that the jury fined me”, said Van Aert at the start of the twelfth stage, a hill stage of 218 kilometers towards Sarran. Corrèze.
“Sagan’s punishment was also deserved. I tried to talk to him after the stage, but that was impossible. His action was not good, but I know I have to keep my emotions under better control.”
‘Would like to talk to Van Aert in case of apologies’
Sagan already defended himself on Wednesday by emphasizing that he had no choice but to deviate in the direction of Van Aert. The BORA-hansgrohe rider did not have much to add to that on Thursday.
“I have to accept this punishment, so it doesn’t matter what I think. But in my opinion my action was not dangerous. The only one in danger was me,” said Sagan, who said The last news a bit annoyed by the action of Van Aert.
“At the finish there are always emotions and people can react strongly. Whether I am going to chat about it with Wout? If he apologizes, I want to talk to him. Otherwise not.”
Thirty-year-old Sagan has so far had a disappointing Tour de France. The Slovakian did not really come close to victory in the sprint stages – although he finished the tenth stage of Tuesday in third place – and is well behind Sam Bennett in the points classification.
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