Many crashes, but the Vuelta a España jury remains lenient with fines and time penalties on stage 8

In a Grand Tour, the limits of what is physically possible are pushed, and to achieve that, riders and teams naturally push those limits as well. Every day, it is up to the race jury to identify and penalise rule violations with a yellow card, a fine, and/or time penalties. The race jury’s report is tracked by IDL Pro Cycling.

All eyes were on Tadej Pogacar’s crash, but many more riders took a tumble in Stage 8. The riders who fell or were held up in the final 5 kilometers were given the same time as winner Bryan Coquard. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) was one of them.

Incidentally, Red Bull was penalized by the race jury for the first time in this Vuelta, specifically team manager Sven Vanthourenhout. The Belgian was fined 500 francs because a rider on his team threw trash in an unauthorized area. However, the culprit could not be identified.

So far, the jury hadn’t earned much money, but that began to change on Day 7. Team manager Cyril Dessel (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jonathan Carty (NSN) were fined 500 francs for supplying the rider from the car in a zone not designated for that purpose.

Alexey Lutsenko was fined for the second time in this Vuelta. After receiving a yellow card in Stage 5, he was now fined 200 francs for accepting food or drink from Carty’s car. Lorenzo Fortunato and Henok Mulueberhan of XDS Astana were also fined 200 francs for unauthorized feeding, and their team director, Alexandr Shefer, was fined 500 francs for the same offense.

But that wasn't the end of it for Astana, as the Kazakh team also saw Alessandro Romele receive a penalty. The Italian was shown a yellow card for allegedly endangering others during the race.

No penalties from the jury.

In Stage 5, Orluis Aular was the first rider to be penalized by the race jury. The Movistar sprinter was disqualified due to an incident involving his NSN teammate Alexey Lutsenko, who also received a penalty.

The jury report revealed that Aular had not followed the rules. Officially, Aular was accused of veering off his line, thereby obstructing another rider and putting him in danger during the final sprint with an elbow to the face.

He was fined 500 Swiss francs for this, as well as receiving an 8-point deduction in the points classification, a demotion in the results, and a yellow card. Lutsenko received a yellow card for deviating from his chosen line and endangering another rider during the final sprint by throwing an elbow.

No penalties from the jury.

No penalties from the jury, but of course an announcement regarding the cancellation of the third stage due to a sudden rainstorm. “After consultation between the organizers and the race commissioner, it was decided to call off the race due to weather conditions. Poor visibility, strong winds, and icy road conditions led to this decision. All points earned during the race will be canceled.”

No penalties from the judges.

No penalties from the judges.