Danny van Poppel once more performed an enormous position in serving to Sam Welsford win the stage 2 dash on the Tour Down Under however the Dutch lead-out man was quickly relegated and given a yellow card by UCI race officers for ‘blocking’ Tobias Lund Andresen, who was sprinting alongside the limitations in Welsford’s slipstreams.
The overhead helicopter footage of the dash in Tanunda confirmed how Van Poppel led out Welsford earlier than transferring off the centre of the highway. He then seemed again at Welsford and his rivals and edged again in the direction of the limitations, closing the door on Lund Andresen and everybody behind him.
Lund Andresen waved his arm in protest however his Picnic-PostNL group merely urged ‘the hole squeezed in entrance of him.” Bahrain Victorious have been equally diplomatic after Phil Bauhaus was affected by the transfer and waved his arm in frustration, suggesting that their sprinter was merely “boxed in throughout the finale.”
Some thought of Van Poppel’s a intelligent and skilled transfer, a part of the ‘artwork of sprinting’. Others took to social media to explain it as ‘soiled’ and unsporting.
The UCI caught to the rule e book and deemed that Van Poppel’s transfer was a ‘deviation from the chosen line that obstructs and endangers one other rider.’
He was hit with a 500 Swiss Franc high-quality and relegated to 118th on the stage, the final place in his group. He misplaced factors he scored within the mountains and factors competitors, and was additionally formally given a yellow card as per the brand new UCI guidelines, applied for 2025.
If a rider will get two yellow playing cards throughout the identical race, they are often disqualified and suspended for seven days. Three playing cards in 30 days earn a rider or directeur sportif a 14-day suspension. Six playing cards over a 52-week rolling interval may end up in a 30-day suspension.
Van Poppel’s transfer sparked contemporary debate about sprinting and security. Some believed he ought to have been disqualified or that Welsford and their Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe group ought to have one way or the other been penalised for Van Poppel’s actions.
Welsford arguably benefited from Van Poppel’s transfer to impede and so endanger one other rider. But the brand new UCI yellow card punishment means Van Poppel can’t strive an analogous transfer within the remaining phases of the Tour Down Under or within the weeks to come back.
