I think that is a furphy on nice guys like Ete (Zabel) and, wait for it... the Gentleman sprinter "Petacchi"

See Zabel's last tour win in 2002 and immediately after the sprint he shoved a tv cameraman quite aggressively. Albeit one can understand sprinters needing space and nbeing caught up in the moment. Compare that to Dennis Rodman the NBA player who was fined and suspended for kicking out at a Tv camerman, or MCewe who was lambasted by the media for telling of a youngster who grabbed a bidon out of his tt bike bidon bracket which broke the carbon fibre bracket.

My point is, some people get a bad rap for things and others slide scot free. Mcewen also gave the bidon away to another youth who was in the area. No one mentioned that.

PEtacchi punched Issaac Galvez Lopez in one stage in the Giro in 2003, well before a sprint. This gets Belli dq'ed for the race for punching a Simoni tifosi, and also Casagrande for punching a Spanish Colombian mountain rate for stealing a mtn prime or hindering his climb. They get dq'ed, Petacchi escaped, *I don't even think he was fined, he may have been though.

Ask, Matthias Kesler what he thinks of Ete Zable. Zabel was not the popular figure inside T-Mob outside Rolf Aldag, infact there was little or no respect there. He would never work for others, this is different to his situation now. So, they are the ones who would know better, but Zable has an aromour that smells like roses, whereas Mcewen is like the regional sewerage treatment facility.