False alarm at Cofidis hotel. Boyer detained.

Boyer still angry.

Initial reports that French gendarmes had searched the Cofidis hotel and detained Rémy Di Grégorio have proven false.

While police were summoned to the team hotel in Bourg-en-Bresse, the apparent cause was the violent behavior of recently fired team manager Eric Boyer. According to several witnesses Boyer confronted a number of Cofidis riders and had to be forcibly restrained.

“It was a moment of chaos,” said Pierre Aloutte, manager of the Coq Malain hotel. “He was shouting and making threats and throwing around their nice clean bib shorts. It was not amusing for our other guests.”

Team management had fired Boyer just two weeks ago for lack of race results and his exaggerated French behavior. ”He was smoking too many cigarettes and talking philosophy too much,” said Francois Migraine, a spokesman for the team sponsor. “Instead of motivating the riders, he wanted to discuss existentialism, Sarte, Gide, Camus and Andre Breton. This is no way to win races.”

The gendarmes managed to coax Boyer to leave the hotel with the promise of a spirited discussion of Marcel Proust’s A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu at the gendarmerie.  ”His eyes lit up and suddenly there was no problem,” said officer Rene Longchamps. “In truth, we had a fabulous conversation about the elasticity of our childhood memories and the search of identity. Perhaps he was not a good DS, but Boyer impressed us with his literary savor faire.”