Katusha-Alpecin rider's colourful language wards off overly keen spectator
Katusha-Alpecin's Marco Haller enjoys a bit of Australian sunshine (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
There was an unusual interaction between a fan and a rider at the finish of stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday, when Katusha-Alpecin's Marco Haller had a spectator trying to grab a water bottle that the rider was holding in his mouth.
What followed was an angry tirade of swear words from a no-doubt hot and exhausted Haller, which was greeted with a by-then relatively sheepish and apologetic fan.
"**** you. What the **** is wrong with you?" Haller asks the spectator, captured on video and posted on Twitter by @junimba. "You're going to take it out of my ****ing hand, you ****ing idiot?
"I'll knock you down, you ****," adds Haller for good measure, once on his way again back to his team bus.
We doubt the spectator will try such a trick again any time soon, although the hunt for riders' bidons at Grand Tours is almost a sport in itself, with asking the rider nicely normally the most successful, and least-sweary, way of acquiring one.
Warning: video contains very strong language.
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