"Specific instructions provided were disregarded" - Bianchi fire back after Florian Sénéchal's criticism of bike at Paris-Roubaix

Arkéa - B&B Hotels' Florian Sénéchal caused a bit of stir at Paris-Roubaix when he put the blame on his somewhat lacklustre display due to the poor quality of his Bianchi bike. Now, the manufacturer has hit back.

"It wasn't going well with my bike. My fork or my stem was starting to give out. There were carbon noises and it was becoming cardboard. I got scared and stopped to change bikes. In any case, I couldn't go any faster because I couldn't pull on the handlebars. And I didn't want to fall on my collarbone," the Frenchman told Cyclism'Actu post-Paris-Roubaix. "I had to change bikes four times. At the Carrefour de l'Arbre, the handlebars of my second bike came loose. I think that we have a technical problem with our bike and we'll have to look into it. It's annoying to always have problems."

In their response however, Bianchi have switched the blame back onto the team itself. "Following discussions between Bianchi and the technical staff of the team, it emerged that the specific instructions provided by Bianchi for assembling the handlebars of bikes were disregarded in some cases, causing disparities in the handling of the bicycles in competition," they counter.

"With specific reference to the demands of racing on cobblestones – and in particular Paris-Roubaix, one of the most demanding races for bicycles and their components – the Arkea B&B Hotels organisation carried out several tests that validated the use of both the Bianchi Specialissima RC and Oltre RC models," Bianchi conclude. "Bianchi reiterates its support for Team Arkea B&B Hotels with renewed positivity, looking forward to the upcoming important events of the season with the aim of taking more victories and consolidating the top ten position in the UCI WorldTour rankings."