Lewis Askey and Benoît Cosnefroy clashed during and after the sprint that decided stage 2 of the Tour du Limousin-Périgord, with the French rider accusing Askey of dangerously bumping him towards the barriers and then grabbing his jersey beyond the finish.
Race officials later punished Cosnefroy for venting his anger, only compounding the AG2R Citroën rider’s anger and frustration.
Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic) won the sprint from the front, with Askey and Cosnefroy fighting for his wheel. The Groupama-FDJ rider moved up late and tried to get on Mozzato’s wheel ahead of Cosnefroy. The two banged shoulders and then hips as they fought for Mozzato’s slipstream, with Cosnefroy bumped close to the exposed feet of the barriers.
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Beyond the finish line, Cosnefroy slapped Askey on the back in anger and then grabbed his jersey and shook him. That led to the UCI commissaires giving Cosnefroy a 100 CHF fine for “unsporting behaviour that damages the image of the sport.”
Cosnefroy was not happy about Askey’s riding. “Closing me on the outside is one thing, okay, it’s part of racing, but doing it on the inside and putting me into the barriers is very different,” Cosnefroy told L’Equipe television after the sprint.
“This isn’t the Tour de France where the barriers don’t have feet, here it’s more dangerous. We already take enough risks and are sacred for our lives. In a high-speed sprint, a move like that is scary.
“There were bonus seconds in play at the finish, but that does not excuse everything. I am frustrated because I had the legs to win.”
Askey finished second in the sprint ahead of Cosnefroy and quickly tried to clear the air with the Frenchman by going to the AG2R Citroën team bus.
“I went to the bus to speak to Benoît after the race. We’ve shaken hands. No bad blood.” he posted on Instagram.
