Jakub Mareczko looks proud as punch after taking the final stage of the Tour de San Luis but conspicuous by his absence was teammate Elia Viviani. The latter felt Mareczko betrayed him by pipping him in the sprint, so much so that he didn't show up for the post-race presentation.
By Brian Canty
We’ll say one thing for Italian sprinter Elia Viviani – he absolutely hates losing.
In 2013, we brought you post-race pictures of the Italian getting physical with Sam Bennett after the final stage of the Tour of Britain.
There, the former Cannondale rider was incensed by something the Irish rider did in the final metres (though we’re still trying to figure out what!) and he wasted no time in confronting Bennett afterwards.
And on Sunday, the Team Sky man riding for the Italian national team in the Tour de San Luis threw his toys out of the pram once again after his teammate Jakub Mareczko beat him in the sprint that decided the stage.
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Jakub Mareczko, right, beats Viviani after both combined to close the door on world champion Sagan.
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To Viviani’s mind he was the team’s protected rider and should have been given full protection in the final but Mareczko had other ideas and pipped his teammate at the post.
So outraged was Viviani that he didn’t attend the post-race ceremony, leaving the podium’s second step vacant and instead, he rode back to the team hotel because in his own words he “wasn’t able to control” himself.
He later described himself as “out of control” though he has apologised in the meantime for his conduct.
Jaku Mareczko, meanwhile, made absolutely no apologies about winning.
“Without a doubt I would do it again straight away.
“The terms were clear: when they invited me to come here to San Luis, they told me that I would be able to play my cards,” he said.
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