“A TV camera is there to capture images and not to influence the race”: Mark Cavendish blasts Tour de France motorbike rider for putting him “out the back” after mechanical, as record-breaking sprinter fined for drafting behind team car

Tour de France record-breaker Mark Cavendish has accused a Tour de France TV motorbike rider of interfering with his chase back to the peloton following a mechanical during stage six of the race to Dijon, a prolonged and controversial return to the bunch that ultimately saw the Astana sprinter fined for drafting behind his team car.

Fresh from his history-making 35th Tour stage win the day before in Saint-Vulbas, Cavendish suffered an untimely mechanical problem, which he later revealed was a shipped chain that wrapped around his bottom bracket, with 80km to go during Thursday’s sixth stage to Dijon, just as the race began to split to pieces in the crosswinds.

Feeling the speed of Mark Cavendish's chase from the moto with Christian Vande Velde. #TDF2024 @ChristianVDV pic.twitter.com/QFOWMFT5hV

— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSCycling) July 4, 2024

As the 39-year-old made his way back to the bunch through the convoy of team vehicles, he was later seen remonstrating with the motorbike-riding race commissaires, who appeared to be ticking off the Astana rider for slipstreaming behind his own team car for an overly prolonged period.

(While the Tour’s officials tend to turn a blind eye to riders drafting behind vehicles in the wake of a mechanical problem, too long a stay glued to your team’s rear bumper – especially when the race is fracturing at the front – can lead to a warning or worse from the race’s eagle-eyed referees.)

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A few kilometres later, a clearly irritated Cavendish was captured berating and gesticulating towards the TV camera crew and motorbike pilot, before eventually making his way back to the peloton (only after a chat with, and brief tow behind the race official’s car), eventually finishing 19th in the sprint in Dijon.

After the stage, Cavendish explained to Peacock his seemingly irked response to the close attentions of the TV motorbike, blaming its rider for interfering with his chase, for what he says was the second time this Tour so far.

Mark Cavendish is back in the bunch after a scare, but not before being told off by the race commissaires for drafting 😳#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/jBLggQhY2n

— Eurosport (@eurosport) July 4, 2024

“I had a mechanical problem – my chain wrapped and locked under my bottom bracket,” the 35-time Tour stage winner told reporters.

“I started to panic when the TV camera – it’s the second time this particular camera’s done it – he goes in the middle of the road and stops the convoy coming. That creates… you’re out the back.

“A TV camera is there to capture images and not to influence the race, and it’s the second time this motorbike’s done it. That’s when you start to panic when an outside control is influencing the race. It’s something you can’t prepare for.”

(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Despite Cavendish pinning the blame for his convoluted chase back on the TV moto, the race jury nevertheless sanctioned the Astana rider for “sheltering behind or taking advantage of the slipstream of a vehicle”, fining him 200 Swiss Francs, or £174.

He was also docked 10 points in the green jersey classification, 15 points in the UCI’s overall world rankings, and 40 seconds in the general classification.

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The subject of motorbikes interfering in the race raises its head again after the 2023 Tour was plagued by similar issues, after two incidents in the mountains sparked controversy and led to three motorbike riders facing brief suspensions.

On stage 14’s ascent of the Col de Joux Plane last year, two motorbike riders briefly blocked the road, preventing Tadej Pogačar from picking up seemingly vital bonus seconds at the top of the HC-rated climb – and leading to one France Télévisions motorbike and a photography motorbike belonging to L'Équipe being fined 500 Swiss Francs and excluded for one stage for their role in the controversial incident.

Just days later, chaos reigned once again on the Col de la Loze as the motorbike carrying French Tour hero Thomas Voeckler – working on the race as a pundit for France Télévisions – stalled on the steepest slopes of the Alpine climb, causing a traffic jam which held up several riders and forced yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard to stop and briefly unclip.

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The 44-year-old retired French pro – who enjoyed two lengthy spells in the yellow jersey during his career, as well as finishing fourth overall at the 2011 Tour – and his driver Joël Chary were also suspended for one day from the race and fined 500 Swiss Francs.

Meanwhile, the strict enforcement of the rules at this year’s Tour was exemplified not only by Cavendish’s fine for drafting, but by the officials’ decision to fine his teammate Davide Ballerini 200 Swiss Francs for “unseemly inappropriate behaviour at the finish and damage to the image of the sport” – after the Italian stopped to watch his teammate make history and win his 35th stage on one of the big screens near the finish.

 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Another of Cavendish’s Astana teammates, Alexey Lutsenko, was also fined 200 Swiss Francs for drafting behind a team vehicle, with the team’s sports director Dmitriy Fofonov slapped with a 500 CHF penalty for his role in the slipstreaming offence.

More seriously, Jasper Philipsen was relegated at the end of Thursday’s stage to Dijon after the commissaires ruled that he had deviated from his line, forcing Wout van Aert to slow to avoid hitting the barriers, on his way to finishing second behind Dylan Groenewegen.

The Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter, who is still without a win at this year’s race, was relegated to 107th place, handed a 500 Swiss Francs fine, and docked 13 green jersey points.

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Regardless of the fine, and typically Cavendish-style remonstrations with those in charge, the Manx Missile said he enjoyed a “really, really special” day soaking in the congratulations of the peloton following his record-breaking victory in Saint-Vulbas.

 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

“I was very humbled to be in that peloton today, with the amount of people who were genuinely happy,” he said after the stage.

“I had the old guys saying, ‘You’ve given us hope that we can still do it’. Then you’ve got Tom, little Tom Pidcock, who came up and said, ‘I was nine when you won your first stage’.”