Iva´n Garcia Cortina explains Catalunya incident with Wout Poels: "I touched his steering wheel at a speed of 65 kilometers per hour. I wasn't very happy about it"

Wout Poels came out with an explosive interview following the Volta a Catalunya where he talked about incidents with Nairo Quintana and Iván García Cortina. After claiming to be hit by the latter, Wout Poels complained to the race commissaires which fined the Movistar Team rider and removed UCI points from him.

"What happened was completely unfair, because of the way the judges acted and because ultimately it was their word against mine," Cortina said in words to AS. The Bahrain - Victorious rider - a former teammate - said that "he straightened up and delivered a punch to my upper arm" near the top of a climb, and that Cortina did not apologize afterwards. This led to the complaint that ultimately was a blow to Cortina.

"About halfway through the stage, at the top of a mountain pass, I was behind the first Soudal Quick-Step rider," the Spaniard explains his side of the story. "To be good and not throw them in the ditch, I gave them some space at the first turn. At that moment, coming out of the corner, I had to push hard to regain my position."

"There was a rider from Bahrain Victorious, with Poels behind him. When I wanted to pass them, Wout suddenly started sprinting so that I wouldn't pass them. I touched his steering wheel at a speed of 65 kilometers per hour. I wasn't very happy about it," he says. The story may have ended there, however both riders tell slightly different versions. Cortina in the meantime has made the trip to Belgium where he will be a co-leader at the Tour of Flanders.