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news
Richie Porte at 2015 Giro d'Italia (picture ANSA, Daniele Dal Zennaro)Richie Porte's Giro hopes dealt huge blow by 2-minute penalty
Richie Porte's hopes of winning the 98th edition of the Giro d'Italia have sufffered a massive blow after the Team Sky rider lost three quarters of a minute to Tinkoff-Saxo's Alberto Contador - and then had a further 2 minutes docked by commissaires, who said he had received illegal assistance from Orica-GreenEdge's Simon Clarke.
Porte's fellow Australian, who spent last Wednesday in the race leader's maglia rosa, stopped to give Porte his front wheel after his compatriot punctured with around 10km to go in today's 200km stage from Civitanova Marche to Forli, won from the break by Bardiani-CSF's Nicola Boem.
However well intentioned that gesture was, it has cost Porte dear. While professional cycling throughout its history has been characterised by alliances between teams - sometimes to help thwart a common rival, other times to ensure a break stays away - such a flagrant disregard for the rules was not going to go unnoticed.
Porte began the day 22 seconds behind race leader Alberto Contador of Tinkoff-Saxo, and despite his Team Sky colleagues attempting to get him back to the peloton, lost 47 seconds on the line.
Initially, it was unclear why commissaires had blocked the convoy of team cars from going through, which prevented Porte from getting assistance from Sky mechanics and being able to get a helpful tow from friendly sports directors, as would typically happen.
However, it now seems clear why race officials decided to prevent that happening.
Porte now lies 12th overall, 3 minutes 9 seconds down on Contador - and 39 behind his own team mate, Leopold Koenig.
Spanish journalist Laura Meseguer tweeted pictures of the incident.
Simon Clarke (OGE) gave his front wheel to his friend Richie Porte (SKY) during his mechanical http://t.co/X2DiqE4ZfN pic.twitter.com/ZIAXmsaeDK
— Laura Meseguer (@Laura_Meseguer) May 19, 2015
Fellow professionals - current and retired - were quick to rally round Porte and Clarke, who also loses 2 minutes, on Twitter.
So cool to see @SimoClarke help out @richie_porte with a wheel in the final of the Giro today. Love the respect between them. Champions
— Koen de Kort (@koendekort) May 19, 2015
The Giant-Alpecin rider was clearly unaware of what the commissaires thought of the incident when he tweeted that; later, he added:
Landed in Barcelona, found out @richie_porte got 2 min penalty. What's the rule? Assistance? If I give another rider a bar, that assistance?
— Koen de Kort (@koendekort) May 19, 2015
Other riders chipped in too.
What a horrible penalty for @richie_porte. Is it really necessary to punish him that hard? And destroy his overal classification?
— Johnny Hoogerland (@zeeuwseleeuw) May 19, 2015
Today @SimoClarke shows not only sportsmanship but friendship in helping @richie_porte out when he needed it. That is cycling to me...
— David Millar (@millarmind) May 19, 2015
UCI rule 2.3.012 about the 'Rights and Duties of Riders' is very clear, however:
All riders may render each other such minor services as lending or exchanging food, drink, spanners or accessories.
The lending or exchanging of tubular tyres or bicycles and waiting for a rider who has been dropped or involved in an accident shall be permitted only amongst riders of the same team, The pushing of a rider by another shall in all cases be forbidden, on pain of disqualification.
One interpretation of the final part of that rule is that both Porte and Clarke are lucky they are still in the race.
Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford, quoted on the team's website, said: "It is obviously disappointing that a sporting gesture made in the heat of the moment has resulted in such a strong penalty. No one was trying to gain an unfair advantage.
"This has however just 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."
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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54 comments
Does seem unfair, I do wonder if the letter or spirit would have been applied if Aru had punctured. Seems heavy handed. Still remember how much time Quintana made up last year on one stage. Hopefully its not over yet.
I haven't seen the incident, but the prose isn't very clear on this.
Was the team car blocked before or after the puncture, it may be me but i read this as the car was PREVENTED from getting to Porte and hence he had no choice but to get a wheel from where-ever.
I sincerely hope he absolutely stuffs them in the TT and then the mountains and leaves the golden boy Aru on his arse.
They have stated that within a couple of minutes of the wheel change they knew about it, so why didn't the commissaires say something to him then rather than say nothing ?????????
I'm surprised to hear it was just a puncture. Looked like he was being babysat to the line and struggling to hold the wheels.
Weren't there two transgressors? Simon Clarke was just as guilty of rule 2.3.012 by giving as Richie Porte was of accepting, surely? Bloomin' Euro bureaucrats...
They were both docked 2 minutes and fined.
Seems rough justice, as there seemed to be a recent incident involving a level crossing and a number of riders, where UCI rules seemed clear.
"Level crossings
2.3.034 It shall be strictly forbidden to cross level crossings when the barrier is down.
Apart from risking the penalty for such an offence as provided by law, offending riders shall be eliminated
from the competition by the commissaires."
As a few have noted, it does the sport no favour. Will there be a clamp down on "sticky bottles" handed out of team cars??
Presumably Clarke offered the wheel, knowing that it meant one more Sky rider to do the pacing, while if you take a wheel from a team-mate they aren't going to catch back up to the leader to help him get back to the peleton.
I'm slightly disappointed that a blind eye wasn't turned to something that doesn't seem to be 'gaining an unfair advantage'.
Real shame as this Giro was shaping up into an interesting 3 way battle with the TT and proper mountain stages to come. Struggling to summon up much enthusiasm for either remaining contender now.
Astana keeps licence for repeated doping violations.
Porte gets docked for accepting sportsmanlike gesture.
Way to go pro cycling. Really winning admirers.
It's important to keep in mind that the Astana riders only got doping products from their own teammates. This rule would only apply if they got them from other teams.
I wonder if they would have been quite so strict if it had been Aru who punctured.
Thank goodness they're finally cracking down on this sort of thing - professional cycling has a bad enough reputation as it is without people flagrantly being nice to each other.
Seems a harsh decision. Would of made the Giro more entertaining if there were more rivals vying for the title.
So why is it clear they blocked the team car ?
Also where was his team ? He is the team leader, not a difficult stage, what happened to them ?
I presume they blocked the cars to punish Porte for taking the wheel. The real question is why did race jury penalise him twice: blocking the cars then docking time?
seems like it but I still find it strange a professional team like Sky had no team mate to help him out, that is what cost him in the end.
Most of his team did get to him, and reasonably quickly, but not - clearly - before he swapped with Clarke... could have been better sorted, agreed, but it looked like a fairly normal puncture incident, all things considered, until the silliness with the barrage started. Shit luck which every way you look at it, and would be nice to see more people (deservedly) close together fighting for it.
There was a sky rider 10ft up the road from him, stood there looking.
..who had just come back by the look of it.Bottom line is that the riders didn't know the rule - in fact most people i've read or heard from hadn't - so why would they not take up the offer ?
Edit. It's pity the rule is there in the first place, even more so that they got penalised for it, but it is there and you can see that the officials probably had to do something. They got the minimum penalty for it, and didn't get disqualified for the push but i'd like to have thought they might have done something like give a very public and firm warning and reprimand without something this potentially game changing - the image of the wheel swap is everything you'd want in an advert for the sport, ruined by the heavy-handed officiating.
As a professional in any field someone should know the rules of what they're doing. Ignorance is not an excuse.
The rule exists to stop stuff like a bigger team buying smaller ones to support them, and Clarke has come out and said he was 'helping a mate and fellow Aussie', not really sportsmanship is it when you take that quote into context, would he have given a wheel up if it was Aru/Contador/Uran? Probably not.
Cycling racing is more than just what you have your legs, it's a sport of chance in places, if you get a flat in an unfortunate moment and you're isolated from the team and support well thats tough shit, shouldn't be left in the compromising position. Your team is there to support you. Porte gained advantage by not having to 'give up' a team member by taking that wheel.
It was in the heat of the moment and it's been done before - perhaps they're weren't as perfect as you in their judgement at the time. They've also put their hands up and said it's a fair cop and let's carry on and personally i've not got a problem with the decision beyond hoping that it didn't have to happen (which it did) - it's changed the race markedly by punishing someone for the letter of the law rather than,perhaps, the spirit... but as I said, they broke the rules so something had to be done. You race I believe - you never had a moment when your judgement wasn't spot on ? You've always read, remembered and taken in every rule the regs whenever you make any move or action ? Sure they're professionals but look at the situation and context please before coming the high and mighty.
Yep - that's what people have been saying here, thank you for so aggressively agreeing. What seems to be an issue with some, myself included, is that there are so many minor transgressions going on it's a pity this was actioned on as it was. All that they wanted at that point in time was to get back on and finish remotely near the pack with the other GC contenders - had Porte et al been in danger of e.g. coming back to form a train for Viviani, then it would only seem right to be proactive but, for me, it came across as a bit of a double whammy.
That's what I was bemoaning, that and the possibly unfortunate publicity, not the actual decision itself.
Edit. The quote (and accompanying photos) I like most, in context, about this incident is from the Giro Twitter feed here
https://twitter.com/giroditalia/status/600704582205997056
"This is cycling. This is the most beautiful sport in the world."
Clearly they should have known about that rule instead of feeling good about the event.
You can't ride back to help a team mate, only stop with them or wait for them to catch up with you before helping.
AFAIK It was the convoy, not the Sky car specifically, they blocked.
But it comes back to this incident; they'd seen someone break the rules and however well intentioned Clarke's gesture was, it was illegal.
By blocking the convoy, Porte - who in the commissaires' eyes at this stage presumably already faced a penalty - wouldn't be able to use team cars (his or others) to draft and get back on, something they'd ordinarily turn a blind eye to.
Now, you're racing at what, 50kph+ at this point, by the time you realise your team leader's punctured, you're up the road; most of the Sky team did wait for him, and rode their nuts off to try and get him back on.
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