After Tinkoff’s Matteo Tosatto confirmed to La Gazzetta dello Sport that the Italian Cycling Federation are launching an inquest into Arnaud Demare’s win at Milan-Sanremo, the Frenchman’s team boss at FDJ, Marc Madiot, has hit back.

“From the moment the commissioners of the UCI, the recognised arbiters, validate the outcome of the race, it is closed yes,” Madiot told ProCycling.net defiantly. “The next day, Arnaud Demare kindly made his Strava data available - I say graciously because he did not have to - that demonstrated that he never rode at 80kph up the Cipressa as the so-called Tosatto seemed to say.”

Madiot says that the reason Demare’s win is coming into question so much is because the cycling world is finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that a French rider has won a Monument.

“I think some people have trouble getting the idea that a French rider in a French team can win a monument like Milan-San Remo,” said Madiot. “I think if it were the same situation with a rider of a great foreign team, there would never have been all these stories.”

Madiot wants all French professionals to stop accepting claims like Tosatto’s and should they occur, Madiot encourages them to contact raise commissaires and encourage a punishment.

“After all the revelations about doping during those years, to those that speak of a mechanical doping. Today I say stop. Now it's over. When a French rider is insulted, he should go to the commissaires and demand a penalty. The French have the right as others do, to do their work in good conditions,” said Madiot.