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Lars Boom handed one-month ban for punching fellow rider at Tour of Norway

LottoNL-Jumbo rider had been first reserve for Tour de France and will miss Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic

The UCI has handed LottoNL-Jumbo rider Lars Boom a one-month ban for punching another rider during the Tour of Norway in May.

TV footage of the incident during Stage 2 of the race showed the 32-year-old first elbowing then punching the Sport Vlaanderen rider Preben Van Hecke.

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

Boom, who is the reigning Tour of Britain champion, was immediately disqualified from the race but was initially unrepentant, saying: “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.”

He later tweeted an apology – although not specifically to Van Hecke, and presumably at the insistence of his team.

Yesterday, LottoNL-Jumbo confirmed that Boom had been suspended by the UCI for one month from 2 July to 2 August and will miss races including the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic.

The Dutch rider, who won a Tour de France stage over the Paris-Roubaix cobbles in 2014, was omitted from his team’s squad for the three-week race but had been first reserve in case illness or injury prevented another rider from taking part.

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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