It's 2am in the emergency department, and the 15th young man of the night has appeared after a bust-up in a pub. His name is different, but the same story gets reeled out: "I was just standing there, and the bouncer came up and hit me for NO reason!"

No one, especially not a young fired-up bloke, will ever admit to doing something unsafe, inappropriate or unsportsmanlike.

So when men are finishing off a stage of le Tour de France with a sprint at ridiculous speed, and points, pride and immortality are up for grabs, the last minute lead-out men are going to be more desperate than even their nominated stage winners.

In stage 11, on the flat roads into Bourg-les-Valence, an easy going and well-liked young lad from Bathurst was seen engaging in some pretty serious (and impressive!) head butting of another rider.

Mark Renshaw (HTC-Columbia), a former world champion track cyclist, is perhaps best remembered for his extraordinary lead-out skills on the final stage of the 2009 Tour de France along the Champs d'Elysees.

His enfant terrible teammate Mark Cavendish, won that stage, the sixth of that Tour, and Renshaw had done such a remarkable job, that he finished second.

Last man lead-out is a big job - plenty of speed is required, plenty of skill, courage and extreme confidence. And you're fighting for your position in a fast finishing bunch of men doing exactly the same thing as you.

Today, Cavendish won again. It was his third stage this tour, and he has now surpassed the record number of Tour stage victories of 12, held by Robbie McEwen, Mario Cipollini and Cavendish's mentor and the all round nice-guy, Erik Zabel (six-time Green Jersey winner for best sprinter).

We all seem to have forgiven Cavendish for his tantrum on stage 2 where his bike got dumped and his helmet was seen careering from the team van in a tantrum worthy of an Under 15 sprinter on the track.

He had not contested the sprint, sitting up before the finish of the stage, and the media were accusing him of losing form, losing mojo or just choking.

On that day, it was Renshaw who gave an interview on his behalf, reiterating the team belief that Cavendish could live up to the six stage victories of last year. He was friendly, calm and completely reasonable.

On stage 11, however, Renshaw was deemed to be behaving aggressively towards Tyler Farrar's lead out man, Julian Dean (Team Garmin-Slipstream) in the final hundred metres.

Farrar and Dean protested, and rightly admitted that Cavendish was probably going to win anyway, meaning Renshaw's aggression was completely unnecessary and dangerous.

Well-respected sprinters saw the footage and were horrified, commenting that it seemed like an unprovoked attack. Race director, Jean-Francois Pescheaux commented: "This is a bike race, not a gladiator's arena," and elected to eject Renshaw from the Tour.

Of course, Cavendish and Renshaw pointed fingers at others, admitted no responsibility or intention to endanger. They were just doing their job, and the others were encroaching on their safety.

Garmin-Slipstream and HTC-Columbia have had mini-warfare going for two seasons now, and there was no way Farrar et al were going to let this behaviour go unchecked.

Perhaps if Renshaw had an Australian jury viewing the replay of the stage, he'd be as innocent as Paolo Bettini in the 2005 Giro d'Italia when he intentionally put Baden Cooke into the barriers in a sprint for no particular reason.

Cooke was lucky to walk away from the crash and Bettini, the Olympic and Italian Champion, was relegated to last place. But not ejected from the tour.

It looks like Cavendish will be the biggest loser out of this expulsion, if it's upheld. No rocket ship lead out might mean fewer victories and more helmets flying out of the team bus.

(Bridie O'Donnell is a doctor and a professional cyclist, based in Italy, and she writes on cycling for Back Page Lead.)