Cycle fan ‘didn’t mean to cause harm with selfie’

The Cork man at the centre of an international cycling media storm has apologised to anyone he offended following his now infamous selfie with Sunday’s stage winner of the Giro d’Italia in Dublin, Marcel Kittel.

David McCarthy, a first-year U23 rider from Fermoy, Co Cork, shot to fame when he tweeted a picture of himself with Kittel after the latter collapsed from exhaustion after the finish line on Sunday.

McCarthy’s Twitter timeline — and indeed his Facebook page — was inundated with messages, “50/50” in terms of praise and abuse, he said.