'Not something you always see' – Sprint rivals Cavendish and Ewan in friendly mid-stage chat

Sprint rivals Mark Cavendish and Caleb Ewan began Stage 3 in friendly fashion as they were seen chatting while riding side by side.

The two men were tipped to go head-to-head on the mostly flat 201km mostly flat stage from Kaposvar to Balatonfured is tailor made for the fast finishers.

However, ahead of battle, the two men were engaged in a casual chat as they started the stage.

“Here’s Mark Cavendish and Caleb Ewan in nice conversation,” remarked Rob Hatch on commentary. “The last 20 kilometres there’ll be none of this going on but it’s lovely to see.

“I love seeing great rivals able to be good friends as well.

“It’s not something you always see but they will be fiercely competitive against each other later on but they’re really good mates off the bike.”

Sean Kelly on co-comms agreed, and gave an insight into life on the peloton revealing that it isn’t unusual to be friends with race rivals while remaining ruthlessly combative when it matters.

“Off the bike and immediately after race they’re all are pretty good mates,” he added. “But you always have some guys in the peloton do not get on with and you do not have much conversation with him.

“I was a rider that got on well with most riders but still there was maybe two or three riders that you would not get on with and really not friends with at all.

“You can have a good chat there when it’s going around like this at such a casual pace but when it gets down to the final, you know they would not give you an inch.

“Any little gap at all, they dive in there and try and push you out but yeah, that’s their job. That’s their sport.”

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