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British prime minister trolls France over London Olympics cycling dominance

LONDON — Cycling is a national sensation in Great Britain, from Bradley Wiggins' victory in the Tour de France to eight gold medals in road and track cycling in the London Olympics.

Wiggins is a superstar. Sir Chris Hoy is an Olympic legend. Laura Trott and Jason Kenny are tabloid fodder as teammates and paramours. The Brits are cycling-mad; seriously, the last time we saw someone this obsessed with a bike, Pee-Wee Herman was searching for the Alamo's basement.

[ Photos: Monstrous thighs from the velodrome ]

So please allow Prime Minister David Cameron a little swagger about his nation's cycling proficiency … and the fact that its rivals from France had but three silver medals in the same events.

Swagger Cameron did on Thursday, after a French television reporter "virtually accused us of cheating" in an interview, he said.

Via Politics Home, Cameron layeth the smack down on France's cycling:

"It's driving the French mad; they can't bear it. Cycling — I was interviewed on 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."

(The Champs-Élysées reference, of course, evokes Wiggins' Tour de France win.)

[ Related: Did British cyclists cheat to win gold? ]

Cameron laughed off the allegations of cheating … because Mavic, a French company, actually manufactures Team GB's bike wheels.

"The French should know our secret because you make our wheels. … You know they're round. They go fast because they pedal hard," he said.

David Cameron, Prime Minister of Olympic Trolling. Your move, François Hollande.


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