After watching a remarkably dull 150km at stage 11, we then watched in disbelief as HTC leadout man Mark Renshaw continually headbutted Julien Dean out the way in a desperate attempt to launch team mate Mark Cavendish to the line. Perhaps more worrying was the way he veered across the road preventing Farrar from chasing Cavendish down. Now we are all for fierce competition but that was exceptionally dangerous.

Tour technical director Jean-Francois Pescheux has taken the same view and commented "Renshaw is out. We watched the film once and it was blatant. He head-butted Dean like in a keirin race. This is a bike race, not a gladiator's arena. Everybody could have ended up on their backs"



It got us thinking about the line sportsman cross to win. Luis Suarez was similarly castigated for his handball in the world cup which although not dangerous, cost Ghana a certain win against Uruguay. This author has certainly pushed the boundaries in sport but when does bending the rules actually become cheating……………?