Tom Pidcock was a shock presence within the bunch dash on the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve, not that the outcomes will present it. Having crossed the road in fifth place, the Ineos Grenadiers rider was later relegated to one hundred and thirty fifth for pushing one other rider.
The communiqué from the race jury pointed to an ‘irregular dash’ specifying that Pidcock had been seen ‘pushing one other rider’, almost definitely Luís Mendonça (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor).
Pidcock was relegated to final place within the group he was in, which was almost a full peloton. He was additionally fined CHF 200 and given a 25% penalty within the factors classification.
The sanction would seem to narrate to Pidcock lifting his arm and making contact with the Glassdrive rider within the closing kilometre.
Pidcock, who was weaving his approach up by means of the bunch, discovered the rider in entrance coming into his line and lifted his left hand to present him a nudge with 200 metres to go. It wasn’t a robust shove, and was arguably a case of Pidcock himself attempting to keep away from any extra critical influence as he seemed to squeeze by means of a niche. The rider in query didn’t crash however was bumped out to the left, near the obstacles.
Taking a hand off the bars in a dash is frowned upon by race officers, particularly when it includes touching one other rider. Aggressive shoves are often greeted with outright disqualification however the race jury nonetheless felt Pidcock’s transfer was harmful sufficient to warrant relegation.
Pidcock went on to bump shoulders with Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Timo Kleich within the closing 100 metres, himself bouncing off to the left earlier than crossing the road in fifth place.
Punishment apart, it was a robust begin to the season for the 23-year-old, who skipped this yr’s cyclo-cross World Championships to arrange for the street marketing campaign. He stays on the identical time total as the remainder of the bunch and will subsequently battle for the general Volta ao Algarve title as one in all many Ineos playing cards that embody Thymen Arensman, Dani Martinez, and Filippo Ganna.
The race heads for a primary summit end on the Alto de Foia on stage 2 earlier than one other at Malhao on stage 4 and a decisive final-day time trial on Sunday.
