Kennaugh and Shaw in Jayco Herald Sun Tour confrontation

Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) finished second to team-mate Chris Froome on the general classification (GC), after a demanding day of racing, but that wasn’t the main talking point at the finish of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

Peter Kennaugh (R) and Pat Shaw in heated post race conversation at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour (Con Chronis) Source: Con Chronis

Post stage, Kennaugh alleged he was on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse from Pat Shaw (Avanti IsoWhey).

“It was shame a bit the abuse I was getting in the peloton from the Avanti guys. It was really disheartening to be honest,” Kennaugh said. “It was absolutely disgusting.”

The confrontation between the two dampened the elation of Froome winning in style atop Arthur’s Seat.

On the penultimate ascent of Arthur’s Seat, Froome attacked to get the King of the Mountains points, and he was joined by New Zealander Joe Cooper (Avanti IsoWhey) who pressed the attack and stretched out the gap.

Froome sat on Cooper’s wheel, despite holding a 38 seconds GC lead on the Kiwi, with the eventual outcome remaining the same even if both had crossed the finish together.

It was clear the two-time Tour de France champion was protecting his position on GC and that of his team-mate.

Sky then massed at the front of the chase group with gap at 40 seconds, giving Kennaugh a 15 second buffer over the former New Zealand national champion as he battled to stay with Froome.

“He (Froome) just sat on the guy (Cooper), and we sat behind, then made sure to keep the gap at 40 seconds, the guy he was with was at 55 seconds, so he didn’t take my second on GC. Then I protected my position all the way to the finish,” Kennugh said.

“When our director said to ride and keep it at 40 seconds to protect my second place, he (Shaw) came up to me and was laughing in my face, calling me ‘a selfish ****’ and saying ‘I don’t know how you sleep at night’.

“I just went and confronted him at the finish and he couldn’t even look me in the eye; a bit of a sour note. It’s sport, it happens, but there’s no need for that in the peloton.”

“You can’t just speak to people like that on the bike, you wouldn’t walk up to someone on the street and speak to people like that, you’ve got to have respect for another person."

Shaw did not comment on the confrontation after the race but Avanti IsoWhey sports director Andrew Christie-Johnson confirmed the tension between the two.

“There’s nothing to it other than it’s a blue that you’d have in a school yard and that’s the way it is,” Christie-Johnson said.

“There was nothing more than what Kennaugh had said to two or three of our riders over the other days. Froomey acknowledged that they’ve got someone who’s a bit of a hothead and at the same time, so do we.”