Tour de France: Mark Cavendish laughs off urine incident

Mark Cavendish has laughed off the incident in which a spectator threw urine in his face during the Tour de France.

The Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider, 28, was hit by the liquid during the 33km time trial from Avranches to Mont Saint-Michel on Wednesday.

Manxman Cavendish was said to have been "saddened" by the incident.

But, speaking on Thursday, he said: "The beauty of cycling is that you can get so close to the spectators."

Asked if he was now riding with a fire in his belly, he said: "I think so, but, regardless, it's the Tour de France. I love the Tour de France and am here to win as many sprint stages as possible.

"It is the Tour de France. Anything can happen. It wasn't nice at the time. The majority of fans are brilliant."

Cavendish said victory in the time trial for team-mate Tony Martin and two other team-mates finishing in the top 10 meant it was a "nice day anyway".

The incident came the day after Cavendish was involved in a controversial incident during a sprint finish. He collided with Tom Veelers, knocking the Dutchman to the ground.

Cavendish heard boos and jeers during his ride on Wednesday, but it is not known if the urine incident was linked to the collision.

Race organisers cleared Cavendish of any blame and called Veelers to say he would never knock him off on purpose.