Cavendish keen to move on
Mark Cavendish was keen to move on after two more days of controversy in the Tour de France.
The Manxman was sprayed with urine by a spectator during Wednesday's time trial to Mont-Saint-Michel in an apparent protest at his actions a day earlier, when he crashed into Argos-Shimano rider Tom Veelers in the final 100 metres of stage 10 to Saint-Malo.
Race organisers absolved Cavendish of blame for the crash, but Veelers and many fans saw it differently, and while one spectator took things to extremes, many others whistled and jeered Cavendish during Wednesday's time trial.
Speaking before the start of Thursday's stage 12 to Tours, Cavendish said: "It's not a nice thing to happen but in cycling you get so close to the spectators.
"I enjoy that really because there was an incredible amount of British support there and Manx flags. I didn't know there were that many people on the island.
"It's okay, we had an incredible night last night after we had three people in the top 10 (in the time trial) so in the end it was a nice stage."
Cavendish said he had contacted Veelers - a lead-out man for Cavendish's sprint rival Marcel Kittel - to try and clear the air between the two.
"I spoke with Tom the other day on the phone and we'll get back to bike racing today," Cavendish said. "He's got an incredible sprinter in Marcel Kittel and it's going to be a big battle today."
Tour director Christian Prudhomme was among those to visit Cavendish's Omega Pharma-Quick Step team bus on Wednesday to show support after the incident, but others remain unhappy with the British national champion.
The Boxmeer Criterium, a lucrative one-day event in Holland held immediately after the Tour, have told him he is not welcome.
Twan Poels, a former professional who is on the Boxmeer organising committee, said: "We may be looking for a sprinter, but Cavendish is not that. I have seen the TV images of the sprint together with the board and I decided to take him off the list.
"Simply put we find his actions not very good. The jury may think he is not responsible for the fall of Tom Veelers - we absolutely believe otherwise."
However, that announcement was seen by some as a publicity stunt on the part of race organisers.
Cavendish's team manager Patrick Lefevere responded on Twitter: "It says more about them than Mark Cavendish. Classless."
