Fines and time penalties Tour de France 2024 | Alpecin-Deceuninck puts the jury to work, Arkéa also makes not so great impression
Fines and time penalties Tour de France 2024 | Alpecin-Deceuninck puts the jury to work, Arkéa also makes not so great impression
Throwing away waste, prohibited positions on the bike, sticky bottles, or a shoulder push in the lead-up to a bunch sprint; all sorts of things can happen during a race, especially in the Tour de France, which has 21 stages. IDLProCycling.com tracks the various infractions and associated penalties for you in this overview!
A rider can be penalized by the jury for various reasons. A common reason is the improper disposal of food and bottles. There are designated zones for this on the course. If a rider throws away their waste outside these zones, they (or the responsible team director) can be fined for it.
Fines are also frequently issued for sticky bottles. This occurs when a rider saves their legs by allowing themselves to be pulled along by the team car while receiving a bottle. Nowadays, riders also need to be mindful of their posture on the bike. Positions such as the time-trial stance (wrists over the center of the handlebars) during a stage and the ‘super-tuck’ (sitting on the top tube during a descent) have been prohibited by the jury for several years now, with the UCI being responsible for this.
Fines are not the only penalties the jury can impose. They can also issue time penalties or deduct points from secondary classifications like the points classification or the mountain jersey. Additionally, a rider’s UCI ranking points are not safe in the case of serious or repeated infractions. The more severe the infraction, or the more frequently it occurs in a stage, the heavier the penalty. The ultimate penalty is disqualification, although this is rarely enforced.
Fines and time penalties Tour de France 2024
Stage 1
The jury will have looked back on the first Tour with satisfaction. They did not have to hand out any penalties, an exemplary start for a so far well behaved peloton. 24 bikes were selected for a check for mechanical fraud. No irregularities were found.
Stage 2
On day two, the first fines were handed out. Two of them went to Alpecin-Deceuninck team managers. Team manager Christoph Roodhooft received a fine of 500 Swiss francs for violating rules regarding vehicle movements during the race. His colleague Gianni Meersman failed to comply with the commissioners' instructions, resulting in a fine of 200 Swiss francs.
Arkéa-B&B Hotels, despite showcasing its positive side with stage winner Kévin Vauquelin, also had some issues. His teammate Raul Garcia Pierna was penalized for urinating in public. This infraction cost the Spanish all-rounder (or his team) 200 Swiss francs. Lastly, 44 bikes were inspected for mechanical fraud, with no violations found.