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“If Teammate Found Dead, I’ll Be Primary Suspect,” Says Fiery Irish Cyclist

Nicolas Roche is quite mad at teammate John Gadret, and threatened to “put his head through the nearest window” in a fiery blog post yesterday after the 16th stage of the Tour De France.

Why was he mad? Gadret failed to give him a wheel when he suffered a punctured tire during a steep hill climb.

It’s customary for a teammate to give the team leader, which was Roche at the time, his wheel or even his bike. But when Roche asked for help while Gadret rode alongside him Gadret answered “non” and kept on riding. So French!

Here was Roche’s reaction, courtesy of his blog:

If John Gadret is found dead in his hotel room in the morning, I will probably be the primary suspect. The 31-year-old French climber has been a team-mate of mine at Ag2r for the past two years.

[...]

By the time I got onto the team bus, Vincent was already in the middle of a blazing row with Gadret. Although I wanted to smash his head in, and had visions of a baldy French climber exiting through the windscreen, I let Vincent do his job as team manager and said nothing. I got off the bus as quickly as possible and travelled to the hotel in the team car. I couldn’t stand to be near him. I will have to keep my hands in my pockets at the dinner table.

I strongly urge you to read the whole post, as it’s a lesson in Irish indignation.

As for the Tour, this is the third confrontation among riders this year. The first involved a bike fight, the second involved headbutting. Clearly, cycling is planning for life after Lance by shoving its way into the emerging UFC/Boxing feud.

[All I could think of was getting to the finish as quickly as possible] Nicolas Roche’s Blog