The sprint finale of the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro was marred by a crash in the final 200m and a dustup during the post-race interviews.
Florian Senechal, the last Deceuninck-QuickStep lead-out man for race winner Alvaro Hodeg, seemed to blame Sunweb's Max Walscheid for the crash and punched the German in the helmet on live television while he was being interviewed by the German broadcaster.
The overhead shots show Senechal pulling off after Hodeg starts his sprint, looking over his right shoulder as Walscheid brushes by on his left.
It appears that Senechal overlaps his front wheel with Walscheid's rear tyre and crashes, bringing down a Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise rider with him.
After being assaulted by Senechal, Walscheid retaliated with a punch of his own before Senechal is pulled away by his teammates.
Senechal later apologised to the German Sunweb rider on social media.
"My heartfelt apologies go to @MaxWalscheid, @TeamSunweb, my team and my fans," the Frenchman wrote on Twitter. "What I did after the race was completely unacceptable and it doesn't represent who I am. I'm really sorry for this!"
Deceuninck-QuickStep added that the rider had been "dealt with internally" via a fine, with proceeds going to charity.
