‘This is what riders in smaller teams have to endure’ - Willie Smit says big riders often look down on lower tier squads 

“Quite often I get told to f*** off because I’m not a sprinter,” said Willie Smit, a South African pro riding for the second tier Burgos-BH team.

“Fair enough mate, just write us a book of who is allowed to compete in the finals and who isn’t,” Smit added.

The 28-year-old has shared his thoughts on attitudes towards smaller teams inside the peloton, saying the big name riders often look down on lesser-known pros.

Smit, a former WorldTour pro with Katusha-Alpecin who is now racing for a Spanish ProTeam, said: “In the Vuelta a España, I had a couple of instances where big riders asked me why the f*** we were sitting here in the peloton - the irony was half his team were dropped, but according to him we are s*** and should go to the back. 

“How is that for arrogance.”

In a series of social media posts, Smit said that some star riders are not good bike handlers and that they grow frustrated when riders from smaller teams are better at positioning themselves in the bunch. 

British pro Alex Dowsett, a former team-mate of Smit’s at Katusha, recently shared a post on his own social media account about how a rider attempting to get into the breakaway shoved him out of the way at the Tour of Turkey. 

Dowsett said that the unnamed rider, who competes for a WorldTour team, also did the same to “one of the most well respected riders in the peloton earlier.”

In response to the rider’s actions, Dowsett said he told the rider he would “make it my personal goal of the day to ensure he would not feature in the breakaway - which I and the other victim to his antics subsequently did.”

The post from Dowsett was met with backlash from cycling fans, some of whom argued that sprint teams bullied lesser-known riders “in a mafioso way.”

Dowsett later deleted the post, saying: "Got the tone of a post last night quite wrong, didn’t explain my story well at all.

"I try to give an insight into the peloton from time to time and I don’t always get it right, what I thought and what came across were quite different. I’ve since taken it down. My apologies."

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Smit shared his thoughts on smaller teams during his time with a WorldTour squad, saying: “Not once did I see myself as more worthy or talented as another bike rider.

“When I raced next to them I respected them as I fought their battles to reach the top for many years in the amateur ranks, with no stepping stones at my disposal except a borrowed bike, a few grand in my bank account, and a random Spanish family that opened their doors for me to live with them.”