Fisticuffs over mountain points?

The duel over winning the polka-dot jersey for the best mountain climber may be more intense than expected. That the riders fight it out on their bikes is normal, but they don't usually literally fight it out while on their bikes. According to CSC's Jens Voigt, that's exactly what happened yesterday.

The two who got it on yesterday without boxing gloves were Walter Beneteau of Bouygues Telecom, whose teammate Jêrome Pineau is leading the mountains classification and Saunier Duval's David de la Fuente, who is second in the rankings. The two mixed it up previously, being fined for "irregular behaviour" on Wednesday.

Writing on www.sports1.de, Voigt described the scene this way: "Today the two were riding next to each other and all of a sudden, the Spaniard hits Beneteau full in the face! It was really loud, just like in a boxing match! Beneteau's helmet and glasses practically flew off his head! He swerved, because of course he hadn't been expecting anything like that."

"Behind them everyone was shouting, 'Hey, are you crazy? If you're going to fight, go to the side of the road! Leave us out of your problems!' Beneteau didn't blink an eye but went directly to the commissaire. I think, that they will throw de la Fuente out of the race."