Popular Italian sprinter Elia Viviani may have taken his first win in his now 15-month tenure with Cofidis today but that as only part of the story from the final sprint at Cholet-Pays de la Loire (1.1) in France.
Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa Samsic) was disqualified from his podium result after a very dodgy move in the final sprint during which he and young British rider Jake Stewart (Groupama FDJ) were both lucky not to crash.
Stewart, one of the revelations of the season so far, was sprinting against the barriers when Bouhanni significantly moved to his left and forced Stewart right into the barriers.
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Instinctively the British rider had to freewheel, for fear of falling at high speed, and somehow he managed to start upright, though his challenge for a podium place was over.
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Bouhanni, who crossed the line in 3rd, behind Viviani and Jon Aberasturi (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) lost his result. And as Stewart's momentum was completely halted, he slipped right back down the group to finish in 29th place in the bunch sprint.
Afterwards Stewart tweeted a video of the sprint from the overhead shot, with the words: "Yo @BouhanniNacer I would ask you what you was thinking... but you clearly have no brain cells. The ironic thing is, you told me I had 'no respect' after the finish. Here's an educational video of what 'no respect' looks like..."
Stewart (21) has enjoyed a fantastic start to 2021, his first at WorldTour level. At Etoile de Bessèges he was 2nd on a stage, 4th overall and won the young rider classification before taking 2nd at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (1.UWT) and 6th at Danilith Nokere Koerse (1.Pro).
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