Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) has been fined 200CHF (£174) for slipstreaming behind a automobile throughout stage six of the Tour de France.
The sprinter, who broke the all-time stage win report in Saint-Vulbas on Wednesday, was proven driving behind a car after he was dropped from the peloton with round 70km remaining on the stage to Dijon.
The race jury determined to sanction Cavendish for “sheltering behind or benefiting from the slipstream of a car”. Alongside the effective, he was docked 10 factors within the factors classification, 40 seconds within the common classification, and 15 factors within the total UCI rating.
Talking after the stage, Cavendish defined he had had a mechanical drawback.
“My chain wrapped and locked in my backside bracket,” he instructed the press by his workforce bus. “I began to panic when [there was] a TV digital camera. It is the second time this explicit digital camera has accomplished it. He goes in the midst of the street and stops the convoy coming, and that creates you out the again.
“A tv digital camera is there to seize photos, to not affect the race,” he continued. “It is the second time this explicit motorcycle has accomplished that, and that is once you begin to panic, as a result of when an outdoor management is influencing the race, it is one thing you may’t put together for.”
After the incident, Cavendish rode alongside the race officers’ automobile, earlier than tucking in behind it on his means again to the peloton.
The most recent race content material, interviews, options, opinions and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
The Brit went on to put nineteenth within the remaining dash, which additionally resulted in race jury motion.
Having initially completed second, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen was relegated for deviation and fined 500CHF (£435). The workforce’s sports activities director Christoph Roodhooft instructed the media afterwards that he obtained a cellphone name from the UCI informing him of the choice. “There was no additional remark, only a easy message,” he stated.
Regardless of his effective, Cavendish stated he had a “actually, actually particular” day within the bunch on Wednesday, after making historical past because the Tour’s all-time stage win report holder.
“I used to be very humbled to be in that peloton as we speak, with the quantity of people that have been genuinely completely satisfied,” he stated. “I had the outdated guys saying, ‘You have given us hope that we are able to nonetheless do it. Then you definately’ve bought Tom, little Tom Pidcock, who got here up and stated, ‘I used to be 9 once you received your first stage’.”
The day was affected by crosswinds round its midway level, which threatened to separate aside the peloton. “It was about simply staying centered, which for 3 and a half, 4 hours, is usually harder than struggling within the mountain days,” Cavendish stated.
The sprinter’s Astana-Qazaqstan teammate Alexey Lutsenko was additionally fined 200CHF for sheltering behind a car throughout the stage, whereas the workforce’s sports activities director Dmitriy Fofonov was fined 500CHF for his automobile’s position within the offence.
The day earlier than, Davide Ballerini obtained a 200CHF effective for “inappropriate behaviour”, after he stopped with 300m to go to look at his teammate win the stage on an enormous TV display screen.
