Giro d'Italia 2021 - Peter Sagan fined for "intimidation, improper conduct against other riders"
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Published 28/05/2021 at 09:26 GMT
It’s unclear what Sagan has been fined for and whether or not there was a genuine infraction or it was more a case of the race organisers flexing their muscles. Bora-Hansgrohe have said that the riders were just enacting team strategy in order to help Sagan win the sprinters jersey. Watch the Giro d'Italia live on Eurosport
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Bora-Hansgrohe rider Peter Sagan has been fined 1,000 CHF and deducted 50 UCI points for what the Giro d’Italia race jury has described as “intimidation, improper against other riders.”
It is currently unclear what incident specifically the decision is referring to but it is suspected that it is in relation to the role Sagan and team-mate Daniel Oss played in managing the breakaway in Thursday’s stage.
Speaking after the stage Sagan said "Today was an important stage and the key was not to lose points for the ciclamino jersey.
“We kept under control the sprinters that were close in the points classification and held on to the ciclamino. On Friday and Saturday, we have two hard mountain stages,"
Critically the decision did not result in Sagan losing any maglia ciclamino jersey points.
Bora-Hansgrohe team director Jan Valach defended his riders, saying it was their strategy to control the breakaway to help Sagan.
"This was the last decisive stage for the ciclamino jersey, so it was our main objective of the day. Our strategy was to either let a breakaway group go all the way to the finish or, if other teams were also interested in that, work to keep the escapees under a shorter leash and be ready to fight in the finale,
"The squad was strong today and we were ready for all possible scenarios, including the possibility to battle for the stage win. Every one of the guys worked hard in the initial part of the stage and a big group went away."
Sagan currently has a hold of 22 points in the standings with Davide CImolai and Fernando Gaviria, who is 25 points off the Slovakian, his nearest rivals.
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