The Irish fan who swooped to take a 'selfie' photo of Marcel Kittel as he sat on the ground gasping for air after winning stage three in Dublin has apologized after the photo sparked a social media storm.
David McCarthy rides for Nicholas Roche's development team in Ireland. Live television showed McCarthy as he took his selfie and photographer Kristof Kramon also captured the moment.
McCarthy's selfie photo went viral on Twitter on Tuesday morning, sparking a string of abuse and criticism. Roche published his apology via Twitter.
"I know @davidmccarthy12 he is a nice kid. He has just send me this post to tweet," Roche tweeted before stage four.
"To Marcel Kittel and all the people I have offended by taking the selfie I want to apologise," McCarthy wrote.
"I did not think the photo would cause such hate towards me and cause offence. I got excited after the finish to see Marcel and wanted a photo. In hindsight, looking back, I understand the time and place was completely wrong. My sincere apologies."
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Kittel did not react at the time but on Tuesday, before abandoning the Giro d'Italia due to a fever, he wrote to McCarthy via Twitter: "@davidmccarthy12 guess you learned your lesson. So did I when my Grandma found me playing with fireworks next to our barn full with dry hay."
McCarthy replied: "I know the abuse I got has been crazy I just got excited and didn't think I'm sorry marcel."
Happy Birthday Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia officially celebrates its 105th birthday today, with stage four to Bari starting on exactly the same as the first stage of the first edition of the Corsa Rosa in 1909.
The first ever Giro d’Italia left Milan at 3:53am on the morning of 13 May 1909. The race finished in Milan on the 30th of May after eight stages and 2408km of racing. Of the 127 starters only 49 completed the race. Luigi Ganna, from Lombardy, won at an average speed of 27.260 km/h.
Winner or Winnen Anaconda?
With no racing news due to the travel and rest day, Gazzetta dello Sport has dug up some interesting news on several lesser-known riders.
Colombia's Winner Anacona (Lampre-Merida) is riding his first Giro d'Italia and revealed that when his was born, his cycling-mad father wanted to name him after Dutch climber Peter Winnen, who was a Tour de France contender in the eighties and twice won on L'Alpe d'Huez.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Anacona's father thought Winnen was called Winner after hearing his name over the radio and registered Winner as his son's name.
Anaconda won a stage and finished second overall at the 2011 GiroBio stage race but ironically he has yet to win a race as a professional.
Points means Prizes
The Giro d'Italia is famous for having numerous classifications (seven) and jerseys (four) awarded each day but this year there is an extra one, thanks to sponsor GDF Suez.
The Energy Prize goes to the fastest rider in the final three kilometres of each road stage. Riders' bikes are fitted with time sensors, with measuring systems placed at the three kilometre to go point and at the finish.
Sprinter Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) won the prize on stage three in Dublin after moving up through the peloton for the sprint finish. In the mountains the prize could go to the rider who attacks in the finale to try to win the time bonuses.
The fastest three riders in the Energy Prize score 4-2-1 points with a €5000 cash prize for the overall winner when the Giro d'Italia ends in Trieste.
Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
