Viewers were furious with Bradley Wiggins after comments about Irishman Sam Bennett

Irish cyclist Sam Bennett has become the latest Irish athlete to be touted as “British” after his inspiring stage victory in the Tour de France yesterday.

The Carrick-on-Suir rider claimed victory on yesterday’s 10th stage and became the sixth Irishman to win in the historic race.

But former winner and British cycling legend Bradley Wiggins has tried to label the sprinter British in an astonishing claim.

Wiggins appeared on Eurosport’s The Breakaway on Tuesday night, seated alongside Irish legend Sean Kelly, who is considered a longtime Bennett mentor.

“He’s still relatively young in terms of cycling and he really is a young sprinter,” said Wiggins.

“We can almost consider it British. I know that many will not like that, right? then he added, looking at Kelly.

“I’ve known Sam for quite a few years in terms of racing, although I don’t know him personally.”

In an attempt to correct Wiggins, Kelly chimed in: “You won’t claim him.

But the Englishman continued: “We spoke to him at the Vuelta last year when he came to our show, and at least we can understand what he’s saying. We can’t really understand what you’re saying Sean, can we?

And viewers weren’t happy with the former Team Sky man, one fan said, “Sam Bennett is from Carrick-On-Suir, Co. Tipperary, Ireland Last time I checked, that’s nothing like being in Great Brittany”.

Another was furious: “No, Bradley Wiggins, you can hardly call Sam Bennett British!”

The scandalous claim was further squashed when Kelly, also a Carrick-on-Suir man, opened up about her relationship with Bennett.

“I knew Sam from a young age when he was back in Ireland,” Kelly said.

“I remember he had a serious accident and I went to see him at the hospital, so there is a lot of history between Sam and me.

“He was on my team, the development team, and we took him for several years to put him on the path to getting into a bigger team.

“It’s an important day for Sam, because he’s been knocking on the Tour door. We could see the excitement afterwards. It’s incredible.

“When you break your first stage in the Tour de France it’s an incredible feeling. We could see that he didn’t come home for a while.

“I remember the moment when I won my first stage, it’s actually a little later when you start thinking about it. There are all kinds of things that go through your head. Some guys show emotion right away, with other guys that emotion is happening. there, but they don’t really show it.

“What a day for Sam. When I saw Sam doing the interview there after the race it was quite emotional and I was about to shed a tear.”