Tour de France penalties, fines and yellow cards – Lidl-Trek sports director fined 2000 CHF

What would normally have been a quiet day at the stage 16 time trial at the Tour de France ended up being one of the most active for the race jury, which handed out various fines, yellow cards, and a definitive exclusion from the race on Tuesday.

The biggest fine was handed to Steven De Jongh (Lidl-Trek DS), in the amount of 2,000 CHF for breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race.

He was not the only one penalised for this rule violation, as Hans Baltus (Picnic PostNL team staff) was fined a lower amount of 500 CHF, and two press vehicle drivers were fined 500 CHF and a yellow card, and one of them was handed a definitive exclusion from the race.

Those were not the only fines, as XDS Astana's rider Nicolya Vinokurov and sports director Dmitriy Fofonov each were fined 500 CHF for bicycles and equipment not presented for checking at least 10 minutes before a rider’s or team’s start time in an individual time trial.

Over the three weeks and 21 days of racing in a Grand Tour, there are many chances for riders and teams to break rules – purposefully or inadvertently – during the Tour, varying from minor infractions to more serious incidents.

Penalties can be picked up for lots of different things, spanning from small things like feeding too late into a stage or dropping litter outside of the designated zone, to bigger issues like dangerous sprint deviations and or prolonged sticky bottles.

Punishments can come in the form of cash fines, ranging from a few hundred Swiss francs or into the thousands (fines are always handed out in Swiss francs, CHF, which is the currency of the UCI). Riders can also be punished with time deductions, point deductions in certain classifications, relegation, even disqualification for the most serious infringements.

The penalties are generally proportional to the offence, for example dropping litter may be a cash fine, but a sticky bottle that saw a rider save time might get hit with a time penalty. Cash fines are generally deducted from the team's prize money haul at the end of the race.

Infractions that are considered dangerous can also earn a rider a yellow card, a system brought in a couple of years ago. If a rider or staff member receives more than one yellow card in the same race, they are disqualified and suspended for seven days. Three in 30 days earns a 14-day suspension, whilst six in a year means a 30-day suspension – though this is yet to happen.

Penalties are handed out by the race jury and recorded in each day's communiqué.

Below, we are tracking all penalties handed out to riders, and some of the notable fines for team staff, during the 2026 Tour.

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Tour de France 2026 fines, penalties and yellow cards

Stage 2

• Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) - 200CHF for sticky bottle
• Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar DS) - 500CHF for sticky bottle
• Bostian Kavcnik (UAE Team Emirates mechanic) - 500CHF fine and yellow card for irregular assistance of a rider

Stage 3

• Andrej Hauptman (UAE Team Emirates DS) - 500CHF fine and yellow card for breach of regulations concerning vehicle movements during the race
• Daan Hoole (Decathlon CMA CGM) - 200CHF for sticky bottle
• Luke Rowe (Decathlon CMA CGM DS) - 500CHF for sticky bottle
• Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United) - 200CHF for sticky bottle
• Yvon Caer (Groupama-FDJ United DS) - 500CHF for sticky bottle
• Raphael Meyer (Tudor Pro Cycling staff) - 200CHF for non-compliance during feeding
• Sébastien Hinault (Cofidis DS) - 200 CHF for inappropriate behaviour during feeding
• Patxi Vila (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) - 200 CHF for inappropriate behaviour during feeding

Stage 4

• Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain-Victorious) - 500CHF and 25 UCI points for disposing of waste outside litter zone
• Kelland O'Brien (Jayco-AlUla) - OTL

Stage 5

• Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Lotto Intermarché DS) - Yellow card, 500CHF for 'breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race or failure to comply with the instructions of commissaires'
• Christoph Roodhooft (Alpecin-Premier Tech driver) - 500CHF for 'breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race or failure to comply with the instructions of commissaires' and 200CHF for 'Failing to respect the instructions of the organiser or commissaires'

Stage 6

• Yankee Germano (Soudal-Quickstep staff) - 250CHF, yellow card for 'Non-compliance with the article 2.3.025 by a team assistant during feeding (inappropriate positioning)'

Stage 7

• Frederik Willems (Alpecin-Premier Tech DS) - two 500CHF fines for riders disposing of waste or other objects outside the litter zone.

Stage 8

• Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) - Warning for intimidation during the sprint.
• Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) - Warning for intimidation during the sprint.
• Enrico Gasparotto (Bahrain Victorious - DS) - Warning for exiting the lane without using the turn signal
• Christoph Roodhooft (Alpecin-Premier Tech DS) - Fine 500CHF for breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race or failure to comply with the instructions of commissaires and/or the organisation

Stage 9

• Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) - Fine of 200 CHF for irregular feeding (“sticky bottle” for a short distance)
• Jose Antonio Fernandez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG - DS/manager) - Fine of 500 CHF for irregular feeding (“sticky bottle” for a short distance)

Stage 10

• Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) - 500 CHF fine, 20" penalty for unauthorised feeding during the last 15km.
  • DS Gabriel Rasch (Uno-X) - 1000 CHF fine
• Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché) - 200 CHF fine for sticky bottle for short distance
  • DS Mario Aerts (Lotto) - 500 CHF

Stage 12

• Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious) - Relegation, -18 points, 500CHF and yellow card for deviating from his line
• Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) - Warning for deviation from his line in intermediate sprint

Stage 14

• Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM) - 200 CHF, twice, for sticky bottle
• Julien Jurdie (Decathlon CMA CGM DS) - 500 CHF, twice, for sticky bottle

Stage 15

• Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) - 200 CHF, 10-second time penalty, 15 points deducted from the UCI ranking, and 4 points deducted from the mountain classification - twice, for pushing off against car
• Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) - 500 CHF, for feeding on foot outside the feeding zone
• Charlie Wegelius (EF Education-EasyPost DS) - 500 CHF, for feeding on foot outside the feeding zone
• Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) - 200 CHF, for sticky bottle for a short distance
• Roman Kreuzinger (Bahrain Victorious DS) - 500 CHF, for sticky bottle for a short distance
• Tim Van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) - 200CHF, for feeding from car in the fixed feeding zone
• Oliver Cookson (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe DS) - 500CHF, for feeding from car in the fixed feeding zone
• Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies) - 200 CHF, for feeding from car in the fixed feeding zone
• Cyril Lemoine (TotalEnergies DS) - 500 CHF, for feeding from car in the fixed feeding zone
• Tom Steels (Soudal-QuickStep DS) - 500 CHF, for failing to respect the instructions of the commissaires

Stage 16

• Steven De Jongh (Lidl-Trek DS) - 2,000 CHF for breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race
• Hans Baltus (Picnic PostNL team staff) - 500 CHF for breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race
• Press driver - Definitive exclusion, yellow card and 500 CHF for breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race
• Press driver - 500 CHF and yellow card for breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race
• Nicolya Vinokurov (XDS Astana) - 500 CHF for bicycles and equipment not presented for checking at least 10 minutes before a rider’s or team’s start time in a individual time trial
• Dmitriy Fofonov (XDS Astana DS) - 500 CHF for bicycles and equipment not presented for checking at least 10 minutes before a rider’s or team’s start time in a individual time trial.

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