Hugo Page was furious after being branded "crazy" following an altercation in which he was hit in the head by Juan Morano at the end of stage 6 of the Criterium du Dauphiné.

Morano was later disqualified by UCI officials after he was caught on camera striking Page's helmet in the last 10 km of the stage to the Gap.

If his ears were not still ringing when he crossed the finish line, Page might have felt them again when Morano slapped Page on the head again. It was a light slap, and they were clearly in the process of trying to make up, but it was not resolved, and the two stormed off.

"With 10 km to go, he insulted me by slapping me on the helmet," Page explained to reporters in the Gap shortly afterward.

"He wasn't happy because he said I was going to chop him. But that's part of racing. I held my line. I kept a clean sprint right from the start.

Page made it clear that Morano never apologized for crossing the line, claiming that the Colombian had precedent for such incidents. 'It's not the first time he's done something like that,' he said. It's not normal." A short time later, he described the slap as "really strong" and added: "He's crazy."

Morano was later disqualified, but Page apparently had nothing to do with it. When asked if he had filed a complaint with race officials, he replied: "No, I'm not stupid."

Page is a 20-year-old neo-professional with Intermarque Wantigover. He has been riding well in his debut season, finishing fourth in the opening stage at the Dauphiné, third in a group sprint behind a breakaway on stage 2, and fifth on stage 5.

He wears the green jersey but is only third in the points standings. This is a borrowed jersey, as Wout Van Aert wears the overall leader's yellow jersey and Ethan Hayter wears the best young rider's white jersey.