SerpApi.Org
UCI commissaires went into overdrive on stages 15 and 16 of the Tour de France.
The Tour de France jury dished out a total of 8,000 CHF ($10,000 USD) in fines, showed two yellow cards, penalized Tom Pidcock 20 seconds, and banned a driver in two busy days at UCI HQ.
Lidl-Trek DS Steven De Jongh headlines the naughty list from the past two days of misdemeanors.
The veteran staffer was fined 2,000 CHF ($2,500 USD) on Tuesday for just a single breach of driving regulations in the stage 16 time trial.
Press driver Eric Ono is close behind De Jongh.
Ono was “definitively excluded” and shown a yellow card Tuesday for contravening driving guidelines.
One stage earlier, Pidcock lost 20 GC seconds, was docked 30 UCI points and lost 8 points in the KOM competition for committing the same sin twice.
The Brit was caught pushing off a team car on two separate occasions in Sunday’s mountain brawl to Plateau de Solaison.
Pidcock is currently just 8 seconds behind Lenny Martinez in the GC. Those two pushes may prove costly when the peloton piles in to Paris on Sunday.
Tour de France fines stacking up for two teams
Stages 15 and 16 were the two most heavily sanctioned stages of the Tour de France.
The UCI handed down a total of 4,500 CHF ($5,500 USD) for 6 different violations on Tuesday’s 16th stage.
A total of 3,500 CHF ($4,300 USD) went into the governing body’s coffers Sunday after jurors handed down 10 separate sanctions on stage 15.
And no, none of those penalties relate to peeing.
Alpecin-Premier Tech and Decathlon CMA-CGM are the two naughtiest teams in the race so far.
They top the table for being the Tour’s most fined teams at 2,200 CHF and 2,100 CHF respectively (approx $2,750 USD)
For comparison, ASO awards stage winners €11,000, or $12,500 USD.
You won’t be surprised to hear that UAE Emirates has raked in more than twice the prize money of the next best team.
Tadej Pogačar and Co. had pillaged a total of €125K as of Monday’s second rest day. Lidl-Trek was next at €58K.
