French questioning honesty of British cyclists says Cameron

The Prime Minister said the French had found the sight of the Champs-Élysées covered in Union Flags to greet Bradley Wiggins’s Tour de France victory “a bit hard to take”.

And with riders and coaches raising questions about the legality of Team GB’s bikes, he said one French media outlet he was interviewed by “virtually accused us of cheating”.

Just over a week ago, Mr Cameron was forced to suffer a ribbing by French president Francois Hollande about the relative performances of their two countries at that point.

Mr Hollande jokingly thanked Britain for “rolling out the red carpet” for French athletes to 
win medals – after joining the PM to watch his country play handball.

But the tables have been dramatically turned since then, with France having only eight gold medals and Great Britain 24 as of last night – and 20 fewer of all colours.

The velodrome has proved a particular cauldron for cross-channel rivalry, British domination of the podium sparking irate suggestions of foul play.

But Mr Cameron, in an interview with Chris Evans on BBC Radio 2, suggested their frustration was a sign of just how well the British system was working.

“We’ve got a system that seems to be delivering. It’s driving the French mad,” he said.

“I did an interview with French television yesterday and they virtually accused us of cheating. I think they found the Union Jacks on the Champs-Élysées a bit hard to take.

“We have got a great system so let’s build on that and then when we go to Rio in 2016 we can have a good experience.”

The premier also picked Mo Farah’s victory in the 10,000 metres as his stand-out moment from the Games so far.

Mr Cameron, who was in the stadium on “Super Saturday” when Team GB won three gold medals in track and field, said: “When I think of the most moving moment for me on that Saturday night, there he was, this sort of slightly lonely figure with the team of Ethiopians and the team of Kenyans chasing him down and trying to stretch him out by having these short bursts of pace and he just kept plugging away and that last lap was just unbelievably emotional and exciting.”

Mr Hollande’s “red carpet” comments were a pointed retort to Mr Cameron’s pledge to do the same for French businessmen fleeing a proposed 75 per cent top rate of income tax.

Relations between the pair have been strained since the Prime Minister declined to meet the then Socialist Party hopeful during a campaign trip to the UK ahead of May’s election.

Attempts to paint that as matter of protocol and not a snub were somewhat undermined by Mr Cameron’s subsequent meeting with Republican US presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

And it was Labour leader Ed Miliband who was not only the first British politician invited to the Elysee Palace for talks with the new president but was granted a rare public handshake.

Last week, with Great Britain still languishing in the medal table, Mr Hollande also joked that British sports fans could be heartened by seeing their medals as part of the European tally.

“We will put the French medals in the European bag, and that way the Britons can be happy to be Europeans,” he said.

British cycling chiefs have laughed off French claims that “magic wheels” – with secret technology hidden inside them – may have been the secret to the team’s phenomenal success in the track cycling events, where its riders walked away with seven golds from the 10 events.

And they also pointed out that the wheels in question were made in France.