Brailsford blames Tour de France roadside reactions on 'a French cultural thing'

Image 1 of 5

Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford has blamed the hostile roadside reaction his team have faced at the Tour de France on a 'French cultural thing' and suggested that the race omit non-French teams if they are not treated with more respect.

Chris Froome and the rest of Team Sky have faced pockets of abuse, booing and liquids thrown at them during this year's race. The air of tension surrounding the team has been a central theme, with the governing bodies and several riders from Team Sky and other squads calling on those at the roadside to respect the race and those taking part.

Speaking at Team Sky's rest-day press conference in Carcassonne on Monday, Brailsford, clearly with no intention to try and diffuse the situation, blamed the home nation for the behaviour.

Moscon

As for Moscon, the Italian's future remains unclear. Brailsford said three times during his press conference that he would gather the facts and look at them after the race but this is not the first time the rider has caused controversy.

In April 2017 Moscon admitted racially abusing Kevin Reza at the Tour de Romandie. Team Sky stuck with their rider - choosing not to send him home from the race - and later handed him a six-week ban that mostly covered a period in which he was not meant to race, while he was also sent on a diversity course. Later last year, the Italian was accused of deliberately causing Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ) to crash during the Tre Valli Varesine, but the UCI disciplinary committee dropped the case in June. Team Sky denied and Moscon strongly denied the allegations.

‘I've not heard Wiggins’

While the Tour de France rumbles on, in the UK Bradley Wiggins has caused a storm with his comments relating to the British parliament’s DMCS report from March, which painted a damning picture of medical practices at Team Sky and British Cycling.

On Saturday, and in direct relation to the DCMS report and the Jiffy-bag affair that lead to a UK Anti-Doping investigation, Wiggins told ITV: "There are things that have come to light with this whole thing, that we've found out since, that are quite scary actually. It's very sinister, and we're still not at the bottom of it. We're finding stuff out daily, to do with this package that never was and all this stuff, and it's quite frightening actually."