Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Video: Gianluca Brambilla and Ivan Rovny kicked off the Vuelta for fighting

OPQS and Saxo-Tinkoff riders booted off mid-stage for fisticuffs

Gianluca Brambilla (Omega Pharma - Quick Step) and Ivan Rovny (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) have both been disqualified from the Vuelta a España for fighting mid stage on today's stage from San Martín del Rey Aurelio to La Farrapona Lagos de Somiedo.

What caused the altercation isn't exactly clear but this vine below shows the incident as it appeared on the live TV feed:

Rovny is intially flustered at Brambilla half-wheeling him and gesticulates to Brambilla. He then appears to put his arm round Branbilla but the Italian responds by throwing an arm. Rovny gets that one in the face, but is back for more a little later, ducking one attempted stroke from Brambilla before landing one of his own. They carry on at each other for a good half a minute, and even when the commissaire's car pulls alongside Rovny can't help but have another quick dig.

Brambilla was first to feel the wrath of the race commissaires, receiving his DQ in short order. For a while it looked like the punishment would be one-sided, but when the race director's car pulled back to Rovny and gave him his marching orders too.

And did they deserve to get booted out of the race? Well, we've seen worse...

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

Add new comment

23 comments

Avatar
Daclu Trelub | 10 years ago
0 likes

The original vid is withdrawn, but here's another one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSQSXQtTO1Y

Avatar
Pointbroken | 10 years ago
0 likes

I feel slightly sorry for Brambilla as it clearly was Rovny that reached across to him first.
Sean Kelly even assumed on Eurosport that it would be Rovny that would get punished the most as teh instigator.
That said i think if they'd both let it go at one swing each they might still be in the race.
Still it doesn't look good for the race organisers that Rodrigeuz gets to stay in after doing the exact same thing to Deignan.

Avatar
J90 replied to Pointbroken | 10 years ago
0 likes
Pointbroken wrote:

I feel slightly sorry for Brambilla as it clearly was Rovny that reached across to him first.

....and Brambilla retaliated with a couple of shots that would've actually hurt.

No place for this in the sport, it wasn't even close to a proper fight, it was just really embarrassing for both men and the sport. You could see the rest of the riders around them shaking their heads thinking 'idiots".

Also, Contador would've won anyway.

Avatar
bamilton wackad... | 10 years ago
0 likes

At least give them some jousting lances and let them battle it out properly.

Avatar
andyp | 10 years ago
0 likes

Does anyone else remember everyone's favourite Texan scumbag getting all punchy on the '96 Tour? Just before he dropped out there were some great scenes of him windmilling away behind a team car in the rain. The big nobber.

Avatar
Kapelmuur | 10 years ago
0 likes

"Boxing on Bikes" - look out for it on Channel 5 Autumn schedules.

Avatar
Meaulnes | 10 years ago
0 likes

Presumably Purito will be thrown off the race too: http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/philip-deignan-rodr...

Avatar
zanf | 10 years ago
0 likes

Not quite this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ0Sazr9Yh4

But then no place in sport, no matter how charged it gets.

Avatar
Al__S | 10 years ago
0 likes

pro fighting on bikes would be far more entertaining/brutal if they carried frame pumps.

Avatar
turboprannet | 10 years ago
0 likes

I find it interesting Brambilla was immediately excluded but Rovni was allowed to pace Contador up for a while before he was told to sling it.

Didn't know about the Guardia Civil chap, that is sad.

Avatar
Neil3968 replied to turboprannet | 10 years ago
0 likes

Agree completely. I bet the GC would be different if Contador was not paced up for a while. He wouldn't have been in a position to sit on Froomes wheel.

Sad news about the death.

Avatar
dottigirl replied to turboprannet | 10 years ago
0 likes
turboprannet wrote:

I find it interesting Brambilla was immediately excluded but Rovny was allowed to pace Contador up for a while before he was told to sling it.

Didn't know about the Guardia Civil chap, that is sad.

Two very good points.

A bit puzzling about Rovny being allowed to continue and Rodriguez. Although a cynic might say there is something in common for both...

Avatar
Him Up North | 10 years ago
0 likes

They got what they deserved, the pair of knobbers.

The truly sad event of the stage was the death of a Guardia Civil motorcycle cop who crashed on the route

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/09/news/spanish-policeman-dies-motor...

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 10 years ago
0 likes

Skillz!

Avatar
Some Fella | 10 years ago
0 likes

I feel a bit sorry for them.
Sure - they both over reacted but i'd rather see a bit of this than insipid 'The team were great today......" PR coached drones
No one seems to have been hurt - a metaphorical slap on the wrist would have sufficed.

Avatar
KiwiMike replied to Some Fella | 10 years ago
0 likes
Some Fella wrote:

I feel a bit sorry for them.
Sure - they both over reacted but i'd rather see a bit of this than insipid 'The team were great today......" PR coached drones
No one seems to have been hurt - a metaphorical slap on the wrist would have sufficed.

Nope, wrong.

This needs stamping on, hard, and it was. The message has gone out loud and clear to the rest of pro cycling. The chief commissaire was spot in in saying that this brought the whole show into disrepute, and also could have lead to serious injury for an innocent party. How shit would it have been for another rider to have been taken out of the race with a serious hurt, just because these two idiots couldn't control their tempers? If you can't keep a cool head you shouldn't be in there. Period.

Avatar
CXR94Di2 | 10 years ago
0 likes

Justice metered equally. It will be interesting to find out what started the whole episode before flaying arms occurred:)

Avatar
The _Kaner | 10 years ago
0 likes

'Twas rather a 'musettes' at dawn type of affair....
 45

Avatar
James Warrener | 10 years ago
0 likes

No place for that sort of thing in our sport.

 4

Avatar
nowasps replied to James Warrener | 10 years ago
0 likes
jimmythecuckoo wrote:

No place for that sort of thing in our sport.

 4

Nonsense. Up with that sort of thing! Hilarious.

Avatar
livestrongnick | 10 years ago
0 likes

Priceless  24

Avatar
HalfWheeler | 10 years ago
0 likes

Second video proving that trying to box in cycling shoes is a physical impossibility.

Avatar
JohnnyRemo replied to HalfWheeler | 10 years ago
0 likes
HalfWheeler wrote:

Second video proving that trying to box in cycling shoes is a physical impossibility.

I can confirm this from my one attempt at cyclo-boxing. Thank feck smart phones were not around at time to record the pathetic spectacle. Not a single blow was landed by either of us...

Latest Comments