The dispute over time penalties at the Tour de France has seen one of the teams post video evidence online; it's getting hot and heavy.
Nasty row over Uran, Bardet time penalties
The gap between Ireland’s Dan Martin and Colombian Rigoberto Uran in the Tour de France general standings was reduced after yesterday’s stage.
Uran, riding for Cannondale Drapac, was penalised 20 seconds for taking on water in the last 20km of yesterday’s stage.
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It means fifth-placed Dan Martin now trails Uran in 4th place by 46 seconds rather than the 1:06 he was down immediately after the stage.
More significantly for Uran, he now trails race leader Fabio Aru by 55 seconds and Chris Froome by 49 seconds.
Romain Bardet, who is filling the final podium place and had been just 5 seconds up on Uran, now has 25 seconds in hand on the Colombian.
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George Bennett (LottoNl-Jumbo) was also sanctioned with a 20-second fine for taking on water. The Kiwi, who is having the race of his life, is currently in 9th place overall.
But while Bennett and Uran were both given the same sanction for taking on water, stage winner Bardet was not.
He also took on water in the final 20km and yet was not penalised; a fact that has led to accusations he is being favoured because he is French.
Bardet drank from the bottle he snatched, too #tdf2017 pic.twitter.com/CPiJ56qk0e
— Julien Prétot (@julienpretotRTR) July 13, 2017
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Article 12.1.040/23.2 of the UCI regulations states refreshments in the final 20 kilometres of a stage are not allowed.
The sanction is 200 Swiss Francs and a 20 second time penalty on general classification.
Uran’s team principal Jonathan Vaughters said he thought Uran had been penalised because the person he took the water from was linked indirectly to the team.
The person works for Cannondale’s marketing division in France; the bike manufacturer that sponsors the team rather than the team itself.
Vaughters contacted the UCI jury to inform them of this, but he says he was told it didn’t matter who Uran got the water from in the last 6km on the final climb.
On hearing that, Vaughters was incredulous that Bardet was going unpunished for taking water off what seemed like a member of the public on the roadside.
And so he posted a video on Instagram showing the Bardet incident.
He then claimed he called a member of the UCI jury for a second time to point out the Bardet incident.
But, he says, he was told that because Bardet didn’t get the water from somebody connect to his AG2R La Mondiale, the incident did not warrant a penalty.
Vaughters told cyclingnews he could not believe the inconsistency being applied in the Uran and Bardet cases.
"I'd rather no one got the penalty," he said. "The Tour de France shouldn't be decided by water bottles."
However, the nasty row over the time penalties is likely to run because the UCI has said in media reports this morning that its decision will not be changed.
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