Küng plays down helmet grab on Guerreiro at Tour de France

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) has sought to play down any sense of controversy after he appeared to grab EF Education-EasyPost's Ruben Guerreiro by the head on stage 2 of the Tour de France. 

With 36km to go on a treacherous opening road stage, as the peloton made their way down narrow coastal roads, Küng was caught on camera raising his arm and grabbing the back of Guerreiro's helmet. 

He appeared to hold it in place for a second, before Guerreiro broke free and waved his arm in remonstration.

Küng was later sanctioned by the UCI officials. He was not ejected from the race but was fined 500 Swiss Francs and docked 20 points in the UCI World Ranking. 

At the finish line in Nyborg, the Swiss rider gave his side of the story to Cyclingnews. 

"It was to say 'hey look in front'," he explained. 

"It was really hectic, and there were a lot of spectators on the road. He was always looking back, and I said 'look in front, man, it's really dangerous."

Kung dismissed any notion of a violent altercation between the pair, and claimed they had already patched things up soon after the incident. 

"It's all good. We spoke with each other, all is well. It's racing, everyone wants to be safe, but it's all good."

Guerreiro was not available to corroborate that assessment or give his version of events. 

The Portuguese rider crashed heavily on the run-in and crossed the line more than 10 minutes down, riding straight to his team bus to seek medical attention.