AG2R yellow cards for Rafferty, Carapaz, Rodríguez incident | Video

Darren Rafferty had just bypassed the AG2R team blocking the road when that blocking then caused Richard Carapaz to crash

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale riders on La Vuelta were issued with yellow cards after a blocking incident during stage 11 of the race yesterday resulting in Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) crashing with just over 90km to go.

Carapaz's team mate, Irish champion Darren Rafferty, had just attacked and was going up the road in pursuit of the large group that had gone clear, and which would make it all the way to the finish, where Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) won the day.

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale - and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) - had taken up position across the road, in a bid to physically block any other riders going clear at the time of the incident. However, Rafferty found a way through and attacked, getting away, and it looked like Carapaz may be about to try and join him.

Advertisement

A few seconds later, one of the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale riders bumped Carapaz on the left of the road, causing him to crash. Though he recovered and eventually got going again, he lost some time later in the stage.

Just after the crash, Cristián Rodríguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) attacked but was pursued, and swarmed both sides, by the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale riders. The TV cameras then picked up Carapaz trying to get going again at the back of the field and when the footage went back to the peloton, Rafferty and Rodríguez were back in the bunch.

Related News

One of the AG2R riders was then seen giving Rafferty or Rodríguez a patronising thumbs up, as if they were on the wrong. However, the commissaires certainly didn't see it that way as the French team's riders were given yellow cards at stage end.

Victor Lafay, Bruno Armirail and Geoffrey Bouchard, and sports director Cyril Dessel, were penalised for preventing or delaying the movement of another rider or vehicle.

Related News