He is a t***

f *** you cavendish ..........

total dissrespect for other riders ...

behaviour like a child ,knowing that haussler was goin to beat him.

obviously, he`s a well accomplished rider but his attitude always seems to be that of "scally-on-a-bike" !

almera: that's a ridiculous thing to say. You're suggesting that he deliberately engineered the crash. Bonkers

Maybe I'm daft, but I think it's refreshing to see an athlete who is a 'what you see is what you get' personality.

Too many are happy to toe the line, be politically correct, always seeking approval, not wanting to rock the boat etc... and are just really boring personalities...

Yes, Cav's behaviour on & off the bike will offend some people. But that's just part of life.

Cav really should win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award because he's one of very few athletes who actually has a visible personality :-)

glauciaregina9, yes, it's good to see characters with personality. Armstrong has character (which I don't particularly like, but have respect for), as does Cancellara, as does Evans. Cavendish has no such class - he acts like a petulant thug and is an embarrassment. Yes, he can sprint fast, but that's only when his team can actually haul him over the tiny gradient that precedes it.

i agree with both jswba and glauciaregina9:

it is nice to see a rider who doesn't conform to the hierarchy of the peleton, and it is completely ridiculous that he would cause himself to crash just so haussler wouldn't win. he may be rude but he's not that stupid.

i think the other riders just need to get over themselves, delaying the start in protest of an accidental crash, they should be fined!

and apart from anything else, you can't deny he is an incredible sprinter and arguably that's all that matters.

and Muzzlehatch, didn't he win Milan-San Remo in 2009, more than just a "tiny gradient" there..

embarassment and thug? You are talking utter drivel, leave shiftF7 alone.

Muzzlehatch - of course there is a degree of benefit to being paced over climbs by teamates but I think you're belittleing Cav's accomplishment in completing moutain stages in the likes of the Tour and Giro in order to stay in the race and contest subsequent sprints. Example; in Stage 19 of last year's Tour Cav got over a pretty substantial Cat 2 climb (I was out there following the race and my car overheated and died on the same slope) just a few kilometers from the finish and edged Hushovd out in the sprint. The reference to "tiny gradients" only detracts from your point.

Good point magicrhodes - and who did he beat to the line on that occassion..... Haussler I believe.

This could just be other teams trying to blunt his edge.

Take a look at the video of the crash. It's fairly obvious who caused it.

http://www.sportitalia.com/showvideo.aspx?id=2531

...sorry, meant "good point sparan"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RNAYR3KPIg

That link works better than the one posted by @littleorangechunks

You need a plugin that most people won't have. And the commentary is in English.

Its a joint crash if I'm honest. It's certainly not Cavendish's fault alone. He is certainly to blame, but only in part. It's as much Haussler as him.

Look at the slow mo replays from different angles... It makes it a lot clearer and will allow people to see what really happened and make their own minds up, not speculate wildly over a potential ulterior motive for Cav apparently "causing" the crash. It is obvious he did not.

... and he kicked my dog!

Big Cavendish fan, but that's certainly an "irregular sprint." This isn't the keirin.

I'm a fan of Cav but that was ridiculous. Any pushing back he got was after he went completely off line and rode straight into him.

As for the attitude, a bit of life in sportsmen is great but after a complete b*lls up like than, it's time for Cav to take it on the chin and use the head a bit more!

He really is the marmite of cycling, and I love him, I think many people don't like him because he doesn't fit into the "plucky British loser giving it a try" stereotype, the guy is a winner, through and through.

From looking around the net, even though it appears that Haussler rode into Cavendish, the idea is that Cav should have kept his line which is why he was charged, it's a shame the crash occurred because he was a shoo-in for that one, which means great work by HTC-Columbia as they were defending the leaders jersey as well as setting up the sprint.

I sympathise with the teams effected but I think this protest is silly and heavy handed, it was an accident first and foremost, the finishing straight was much more narrow than usual and I think there was a little incident at this point on the preceding lap of this stage.

Just glad he's still got a shot at the green jersey next month...

Saw it on the telly last night, 100% Cavendish's fault, yes, it was an accident i.e. he didn't do it deliberately, but still his fault. The sportsman-like way to respond would be to apologise.

After seeing multiple videos:

The way I see it is that both Hausler and Cav deviated from their lines. However Hausler deviated slightly into the middle and then stayed there to cut off the Milram rider. Cavendish deviated far more, after touching shoulders with Hausler he continued to ride across. It appears that Hausler, now going straight ran into the back of Cav's front wheel (or Cav's rib cage). Hausler wasn't looking though and nor was Cavendish.

It's an accident alright, but IMO the fines, time/points penalty and protest were warranted. Not riding in a straight line happens in a sprint, but there was a bit too much on Cav's part.

Either way, I think it's a sign to Hausler that he really needs to change his racing nationality to Australian :P

Cav would have won that sprint.

An accident yes and 50\50 Cavendish\Hausler. These things happen.

You don't win sprints by hanging back and being a gentlemen.

It amazes me how many people slag off arguably one of the best sprinters ever because he wears his heart on his sleeve and isn't frightened to say what he thinks.

You gotta love Cavendish ;)

I love his total disrespect for cycling ettiquette and his cockiness!

Its all Wiggle's fault..

i wish I had been a fly on Tom Boonen's helmet. I think he must have nailed a few more pedal revs before slamming into 'Chav'. The urge to aim for the head must have been been sooo hard to control.

Thank fuc* for the bike helmet.

" riders expressed their anger at the aggressive attitude of British cyclist Mark Cavendish"

Obviously these pussys never rode when Djamolidine Abdoujaparov ruled the sprint(and all the road in front of the finish line)

Cav is a winner...........wait till the tour!

+1 for ArroyoDave's comment re Abdou !

And didn't Haussler force Cav across the road with 200m to go !

It ain't all down to Cav. Give the lad a break.

C'mon Cav !

That was not elbowing. It may have been intended that way, but the results speak for themselves. He's going to lose professional respect for that.

Ive watched the crash a dozen times. Its Cavendish who deviates across Ciolek and then into Hausler. Hausler may move very slightly to his right. Why did Cavendish move across so much - I know its not easy and he was going flat out but he is a pro and has a duty of care to his other pros to race safely - hence his penalty.

As for his attitude - you would think he should be much more mature by now. A bit of graciousness and occassionally admitting you are wrong would not do him any harm

obviously he didn't do it on purpose but it was blatently his fault. if it was a one off stupid action by cavendish then a protest might seem over the top but given that everyone already knows he's a complete t*** for his actions previous to this it probably made it that bit easier to organise.

Muzzlehatch

Evans has a personality , in fact I think he has several the man is as mad as a box of frogs

Isn't it indicative of today's society that this type of behaviour can be excused as "personality"

The other teams held a protest against a riders aggressive riding, surely they are in a far better position to question a riders attitude than us.

You don't need to be cocky or arrogant to be successful.