Australia's Richie Porte now trails overall leader Alberto Contador by over three minutes in the Giro d'Italia after being penalised for receiving a wheel from a rider from another team. Porte was unlucky to puncture his front tyre just 5km from the finish of Tuesday's stage 10. Fellow Australian Simon Clarke, who rides for team Orica Green Edge, stopped and gave his own front wheel to Porte.
Unfortunately race rules forbid riders from rival teams assisting each other, so both Australians were given a two-minute penalty. Porte is now three minutes and nine seconds behind Contador. Porte and Clarke were also fined 200 Swiss francs each, around 140 pounds. "It is disappointing that a sporting gesture made in the heat of the moment has resulted in such a strong penalty," said Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford. "No-one was trying to gain an unfair advantage. This has strengthened our resolve and determination to fight for this race. Richie and the whole team are ready to take it on and there is a lot of this Giro left."
During the race the official Giro d'Italia Twitter account praised Clarke's actions, accompanying a photo of the wheel change with this message: "This is cycling. This is the best sport in the world." Clarke apologised via Twitter: "Feeling sad for Richie Porte. Tried to help a friend as most would. I'm sorry about the outcome of all this!" Porte thanked Clarke for his help but was later punished by race authorities, dropping from third in the overall classification to 12th.
Porte is now 9.00 at Bet365 to win the Giro d'Italia, Contador is the big favourite at 1.44 while Italy's Fabio Aru is at 3.25.
sharpe 8 years ago
@ Johnny Karp, yes it is Johnny. Last years failure at Tour de France should be a lesson for them but Sky keep doing the same mistakes. In the last tour Chriss Froome was on the ground 4 or 5 times but he was never surrounded by the teammates to prevent this clashes. I can't believe that they still continue to allow these...
@ Johnny Karp, yes it is Johnny. Last years failure at Tour de France should be a lesson for them but Sky keep doing the same mistakes. In the last tour Chriss Froome was on the ground 4 or 5 times but he was never surrounded by the teammates to prevent this clashes. I can't believe that they still continue to allow these stupid mistakes to happened.
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JohnnyK 8 years ago
Seculla, the humanity is there and what happened is proof of that, they need to change the rules though in order to allow that. Sharpe, I totally agree with you on this, Team Sky should have done a much better job at protecting their leader. Something like this would have never happened to Contador at Tinkoff Saxo or...
Seculla, the humanity is there and what happened is proof of that, they need to change the rules though in order to allow that. Sharpe, I totally agree with you on this, Team Sky should have done a much better job at protecting their leader. Something like this would have never happened to Contador at Tinkoff Saxo or to Aru at Astana.
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sharpe 8 years ago
It was a terrible luck again for Richie Port but also it was a huge mistake by Sky's management and Richie's teammates who don't react fast enough after his technical problem. And he is the leader of the team, that is just inexcusable for the all team especially after the excellent form that Richie shows. And that 2 minutes...
It was a terrible luck again for Richie Port but also it was a huge mistake by Sky's management and Richie's teammates who don't react fast enough after his technical problem. And he is the leader of the team, that is just inexcusable for the all team especially after the excellent form that Richie shows. And that 2 minutes penalty is just ridiculous even if the rulebook say so. Last two years are so bad for Team Sky and the combination of bad luck and their own mistakes kill them in the big races.
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seculla 8 years ago
WOW. I'm not actually watching this sport, but what I've reed in this article is very shocking. I can't believe that this actually happened. It's more and more clear that with money coming into the sport, there is less and less humanity. I really want to believe that this things and penalizing like this will not happen...
WOW. I'm not actually watching this sport, but what I've reed in this article is very shocking. I can't believe that this actually happened. It's more and more clear that with money coming into the sport, there is less and less humanity. I really want to believe that this things and penalizing like this will not happen again.
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