Peter Sagan docked points, fined for "intimidating" his Giro rivals | Video

Peter Sagan immediately looked worried when he finished yesterday's stage after a staff member broke the news that his actions were under review. But the three-time world champion effectively got off lightly as he was not docked points in the points classification (Photo: Marco Alpozzi)

[banners_ad id=136]

Peter Sagan was fined and docked points for intimidating other riders on yesterday's stage 18 at the Giro d'Italia. In an unusual case, the fine appears to relate to his actions in trying to ensure a breakaway, containing riders who were no threat to him, was able to get clear yesterday.

Sagan could be seen very heavily patrolling the front of the peloton when a breakaway he was happy with was riding away up the road. He moved from side to side, apparently trying to block or discourage attackers. Some of his actions are captured in the video just below and in the other clips at the bottom of this story.

The race jury was not specific about Sagan's infringement and in its communique simply said he was being penalised for "intimidation, improper conduct against other riders". He was fined 50 UCI world ranking points and 1,000 Swiss Francs. Crucially, he was not docked any points in the points competition and so he still leads that classification.

Advertisement

Sagan has 135 points, with Davide Cimolai (Israel Start-Up Nation) next on 113 pointsm followed by Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) on 110. Once yesterday's stage was over, none of those top three had any chance of scoring more points in this Giro. That meant the make-up of yesterday's breakaway was absolutely crucial for Sagan.

Related News

It took the large winning breakaway over an hour to go clear yesterday and none of Sagan's rivals were in it. That meant the day was neutralised in the fight at the top of the points classification. And with only two hilly stages and a TT to come, the break's success yesterday effectively ended the points classification, barring incident.

When the breakaway had formed, Sagan then came to the front of the peloton with about 180km to go. He moved around significantly in the road in a bid to dissuade further attacks and appeared to engage in overt blocking. While blocking the road is not banned, it is usually done by teams using most or all of their riders to form a line at the front across the peloton on a narrow road.

The commissaires clearly took a dim view of one rider moving around the road to dissuade attacks and block and so Sagan was fined and docked UCI points. He was very lucky not to have his Giro points classification tally docked. That could have cost him the points classification lead, with no opportunity to take it back before the race ends in Milan on Sunday.

Topics
frontpage

Related News