Two of the best riders in the world during their time in the peloton, Sean Kelly and Robbie McEwen were clearly less than impressed at Mark Cavendish’s remarks about one of his young team mates going missing during the finale of Giro stage 3.
After winning the stage, Cavendish listed out the QuickStep Alpha Vinyl riders who had helped him and praised them. But he said Mauro Schmid, his 22-year-old Swiss team mate, was a no-show for his planned stint on the front. And he left him out of the "dream team" he had in Italy supporting him.
Working on Eurosport’s coverage on the Giro, both Kelly and McEwen believed Cavendish shouldn’t have singled out Schmid - a stage winner last year - in that way. They believed the British sprinter should have only spoken of any difficulties in private within the team.
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Cavendish - in the video below - said the team was split into two halves, one for the climbs and one for the sprints; the latter to support him in his quest for stage wins.
“We were supposed to have Mauro Schmid and Ballerini keeping us there in the final but we didn’t see Mauro. So Baller did, like, the last 10 or 15k all in the wind for us. Normally we’d like him for the lead-out but he got (stuck on the front) like that.
“With Ballerini, Van Lerberghe and Mørkøv I’ve an incredible final group there, I said that before the race. And they delivered today," said Cavendish after his incredible sprint of 72km per hour for the last 17 seconds.
Kelly suggested there may have been some issue before the race began with team selection and that Cavendish's remarks about Schmid were perhaps made within a wider context.
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"I don't agree with what Cavendish did, calling out a team mate. I think there is something there from before the race; who is going to be in the team, who is going to be with Mark Cavendish. Did he want pretty much an all-sprinter lead-out train with him?
"I think there's something there because you just don't pick out a guy like that, just after the the finish. I think there was something underlying there for a number of days maybe before the race and I think, you know, 'now I have my chance to get it and get him'.
"You don't do that immediately after the finish. You wait and you talk on the bus. Schmid is a young guy, with that run-in (on stage 3) it's difficult for those guys to be there; to fight and push like that."
McEwen took a similar view and noted Schmid was currently 10th overall and doing a good ride, even if the race was just three days old.
"I found it a little bit over the top to go calling him out in front of everybody," the Australian said. "I think it's probably better to talk about that sort of thing in private on the team bus... rather than going on TV and calling him (out) like that."
