TechPowered ByBikeRadar
Pro bike: Thomas Dekker's Garmin-Barracuda Cervélo S5
Aero machine for Garmin-Barracuda's latest signing
2013 SRAM Red: First Ride Review
SRAM is smoother, quieter, more powerful, more refined
Pro bike: Specialized CruX for Zdeněk Štybar
World champion goes for pink
Pro bike: Danny Hart's Giant Factory Off-Road Team Giant Glory
Take a tour of the world champion's bike
Skil-Shimano admits Rooijakkers hit out at Cavendish
Piet Rooijakkers (right) came into contact with Cavendish with 2km to go in stage 2 of the Tour de France
Cavendish wins regardless
Skil-Shimano has confirmed that, Piet Rooijakkers, was the rider involved in an altercation with Mark Cavendish in the run in towards Brignoles for the finish of stage 2 at the Tour de France.
The exchange occurred with two kilometres remaining in the stage. Cavendish could be seen grabbing Rooijakkers jersey before the Dutchman removed his right hand and swung twice at the Columbia-HTC rider. Responding to the incident Cavendish had initially confused the Rooijakkers with his Skil-Shimano teammate, Kenny Van Hummel.
"Van Hummel has absolutely no respect for its colleagues," said Cavendish after the stage, reported Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
A spokesperson for Skil-Shimano confirmed that Rooijakkers had been the rider to strike out at Cavendish, after being pushed into the line of the Columbia-HTC train by Frenchman Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale).
Regardless of the incident Cavendish was able to avoid a crash inside the final kilometre to claim his fifth Tour de France stage win. Cavendish's win also moved him into the lead of the green jersey classification.
Rooijakkers finished the stage 2 in 61st place.
Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed
Related articles
Cavendish wins sprint in Brignoles
Goal 1 of 2 complete: Cavendish no failure in Brignoles; Cancellara keeps maillot jaune, but the heat is on in Provence
July 5, 2009, 10:40
Cavendish dreams of winning in green on the Champs Elysees
Sprinter pays tribute to team and looks to Paris
July 5, 2009, 17:30
Skil-Shimano making their presence known
Tour's stage 3 was the team's first "victory"
July 7, 2009, 12:11
Skil-Shimano renews Tour riders' contracts
Extensions for six riders
July 18, 2009, 12:21
Related riders
Piet Rooijakkers
Mark Cavendish
Key results
1st World Road Championships 2011
1st World Track Championships, Madison 2005, 2008
1st Points competition, Tour de France 2011
20 stage wins, Tour de France 2008-11
9 stage wins, Giro d’Italia, 2008-11
1st Points competition, Vuelta a España 2010
4 stages wins, Vuelta a España 2010
1st Milan-San Remo 2009
1st Scheleprijs 2007, 2008, 2011
2nd Points competition, Tour de France 2009, 2010Looking ahead to 2012
It will be hard for Mark Cavendish to top his 2011 season, winning the green jersey in the Tour de France and the rainbow stripes of World Champion – but Cavendish has big dreams, and they’re centred around July, riding the Tour de France and then the Olympic road race in London. Not that the rest of the peloton will be making it easy for him – and it will be interesting to see whether the move from HTC to Sky will affect his racing. Whatever happens, there are sure to be the usual fireworks!
