Sénéchal fined for lashing out at Walscheid

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Florian Sénéchal has been fined by the Deceuninck-QuickStep team for attacking another rider after the Munsterland Giro, with the money set to go to charity. 

Senechal lashed out at Team Sunweb's Max Walscheid beyond the finish line of the German one-day race, seemingly blaming the German sprinter for a crash that saw him fall heavily with 200 metres to go. 

Senechal landed a blow to Walscheid's helmet before being restrained and pushed away by his teammate Davide Martinelli. The race winner, and fellow Deceuninck-QuickStep rider Alvaro Hodeg, interrupts a conversation with Fernando Gaviria to
also help diffuse the situation. 

The Belgian team issued a statement, announcing that Sénéchal had been fined, though they did not say how much. 

"Deceuninck-QuickStep doesn't condone Florian Sénéchal's behaviour at the end of today's Munsterland Giro. The matter has been dealt with internally and Florian has been fined, with the proceeds set to go to a charity organisation."

Sénéchal himself promptly apologised for his outburst, saying: "My heartfelt apologies go to Max Walscheid, Team Sunweb, my team and my fans. What I did after the race was completely unacceptable and it doesn't represent who I am. I'm really sorry for this."

Walscheid made no mention of the fracas in Sunweb's post-race communications. Despite not crashing, he felt the collision with Sénéchal had cost him a result.

"Unfortunately, my sprint was hampered due to a touch of wheels from behind which cost me a bit of momentum so we didn’t end up on the podium but instead with fifth place," Walscheid said.