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Kittel calls for Grivko to be disqualified

After having watched Marcel Kittel win the first two stages of the Dubai Tour in stunning fashion, few would have thought he would fail to be in the top 10 in the third stage.
But little did they know that the dark arts of a Ukrainian rider - Andrey Grivko - would leave the defending champion with a bloodied face. For long periods on a day that saw a vicious sandstorm, Kittel was left riding without his glasses. Such was the power of Grivko's punch that Kittel had to slow down for medical attention.
Grivko was later disqualified from the race by the jury as a short-term punishment. But Kittel felt there should be bigger punishment for such riders.
"I won't accept an apology for this. That has nothing to do with cycling. What Grivko did is a shame for our beautiful sport," Kittel, who has 199 thousand followers on Twitter, wrote on the microblogging site.
"I think he should be disqualified not only for this race but for the next as well. It's a terrible disappointment for cycling," Kittel later told us in the press conference.
"It's a shame for the race, it's a shame for his sponsors and for his team (Astana). And I really don't understand how he can show this kind of reaction. Of course, it's a long race. You have lot of emotion. It's like in the sprints. But it doesn't give you the right to punch a rider in his face."
The incident happened when the riders were fighting for positions in the initial stage of the race.
"As soon as we got into the cross winds and fighting for positions, I was trying to get into the line. One of Grivko's younger teammates pushed me back. I was trying to talk to the young guy that's when Grivko gave me a punch in the face," Kittel said.
"He was trying to apologise to me. But I asked him what he would apologise for. It's too late now. There is a very thin line. If you have an argument in the race, you can talk about it. I have no problem with that. But when your action could have injured my eye, there is no place for apology.
"See what he did today was disgraceful. It also affected my performance. My concentration was not 100 per cent. But the day is over now!" Kittel, who is hoping to become the first man to retain the Dubai Tour title, said the conditions were difficult on Thursday.
"Today the weather was very extreme. The predictions are not good for tomorrow either. We wanted to talk to the race directors. It's always a difficult decision, you know. You don't want to cancel a stage like this," he said.
"But we waited for better weather. So that gave us the chance to take more risks. And it also gives the race the chance to go for final and satisfy the sponsors."
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com