Video: Lars Boom disqualified from Tour of Norway for punching another rider

Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo) has been disqualified from the Tour of Norway after he elbowed and then punched Sport Vlaanderen's Preben Van Hecke.

You can see the incident in this video uploaded by FloBikes.

"You cannot punch a competitor and particularly not in the face," a race referee told Norway’s TV2. "It's not good for the reputation of cycling and he cannot take the law into his own hands. So we have taken the decision of taking him out of the race."

Boom’s initial take on the incident saw him refer to Van Hecke as an ‘idiot’.

"He was on my wheel and I almost crashed, so I got a little hot headed. I don't want to crash, especially when an idiot does something like that."

Boom subsequently apologised, although not to Van Hecke specifically.

I want to say sorry to all cycling fans, the organizer of the Tour of Norway and all other cyclists for my wrong reaction in today’s incident. https://t.co/d63Mxj2vu9

— Lars Boom (@lars_boom) May 17, 2018

Somewhat bizarrely, Van Hecke said that Boom’s punishment was too severe. "Sometimes this happens in a race,” he said. “He did not hit my face, but in the hip."