Ben O'Connor's Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale were handed four yellow cards on stage 11 of the Vuelta a España, for "obstruction by by a rider to prevent or delay the movement of another rider or vehicle".
The French squad were also fined for their part in an incident during Wednesday's stage when they attempted to stop any more riders from going up the road to join the break, in a clear move to protect O'Connor's position in the red jersey. Had the break swelled to more than 39, the fear would have been that more riders might have moved up overall, endangering the race lead.
While Decathlon, on the front of the peloton, was doing this, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) crashed, although it is not clear whether it was directly because of the blocking. Carapaz sat in third, 4:32 down, before stage 10. EF's team boss, Jonathan Vaughters, tweeted: "Accidents happen in cycling. We all know that. It’s a rough sport. But this was not an accident."
Victor Lafay, Bruno Armirail and Geoffrey Bouchard and sports director Cyril Dessel were all penalised for their part in the "obstruction". Lafay was also fined 500 CHF and handed penalties in the different classifications, and Dessel was fined 1000 CHF.
The yellow cards do not mean anything at the moment, as the the UCI, cycling's governing body, is trialling 'yellow cards' as part of a range of measures designed to make pro cycling safer. However, from next year, suspensions will be handed out based on the number of cards.
Yellow cards will continue to be tested in races between August and the end of the current year, with the aim of then introducing the system permanently from 2025, including the introduction of sanctions. Unlike in football, yellow cards won’t physically be shown for offences, but will continue to be listed in post-race communications, alongside other fines and sanctions.
Barbara Guarischi became the first rider to receive a yellow card under the new UCI ruling at the Tour de France Femmes earlier this month.
Three other yellow cards were handed out on Wednesday, to Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) for non-compliant positions on the bike and also sports director at Astana-Qazaqstan for irregular assistance to a rider on his team.
O'Connor lost 37 seconds to his chasers on general classification on stage 11, which was won by Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla), with the former later saying he "suffered".
