'I'm at the same airport as you if you want to tell me something': Barbier and Teunissen's sprint incident spills over into departures

The disagreement between Mike Teunissen and Rudy Barbier over an incident in the sprint finish of the final stage of the Tour de Hongrie first spilled over onto Twitter, and then maybe even into the Budapest airport departure lounge, as both riders reacted with indignation to the episode.

In the sprint finish of the fifth stage in the Hungarian capital, Israel Start-Up Nation's Rudy Barbier can be seen pulling Jumbo-Visma's Mike Teunissen back as they compete for the minor places, both riders raising their arms in protest and shaking their heads.

"I don't know how much prize money an eighth-place is worth, but apparently enough to try and crash other riders," Teunissen wrote on Twitter, reposting a slomo video of the incident.

Barbier was seemingly ready for round two, however, replying: "If you want to tell me something, I'm at the same airport as you. But you can also keep crying like an eight-year-old on Twitter."

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The handbags at dawn continued as Teunissen retweeted a message saying Barbier's response showed him to be the true child in the exchange, before adding: "I just don't want to crash actually and I think this is behaviour we don't need in a sprint. Anyways, safe travels Rudy."

In the sprint, Barbier finished one place ahead of Teunissen in eighth, while Trek-Segafredo's Edward Theuns won the stage ahead of Jumbo-Visma's Olav Kooij.

So far, the UCI has not intervened in this episode but did recently hand Nacer Bouhanni a two-month suspension for shoving Jake Stewart in the finale of Cholet Pays de la Loire.

At the time of the incident, the pair also exchanged words online, Bouhanni then revealing the racist abuse he had been subject to, saying he has been “putting up with this for a long time but won’t let it go anymore.”  

Stewart responded by saying he stood united with the rider and condemned the actions of those sending the abuse.