Cycling fans need a chill pill

DAVID McCARTHY is a 19-year-old cycling enthusiast who helped to expose some of the silly fanaticism in the sport he loves. Marcel Kittel won the Dublin stage of the Giro d’Italia, and the effort of coming first left him exhausted.

McCarthy was standing nearby and dashed over to take a selfie with Kittel, but when he posted it on a social media account he was hit with a gush of furious responses. Some believed he had taken the picture after Kittel had fallen but others primly felt McCarthy had taken advantage of the rider at a vulnerable time.

It was terribly precious, and of a piece with a fraternity who reacted with fury to a newspaper story that recounted details of the stiff relations between Stephen Roche and the family of Dan Martin. The Giro was a thrilling event but some of its biggest fans were harder work.