La Vuelta a Espana 2019 - Miguel Angel Lopez hit with ten-second penalty for hand-sling

ByEurosport

Updated 12/09/2019 at 12:02 GMT

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) suffered another blow on Wednesday evening as he was docked ten seconds for an illegal hand-sling.

Wednesday had already been a bad day for Lopez after the Colombian lost 5:19 to Nairo Quintana and was bumped down to fifth on GC during a chaotic Stage 17.

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However it got worse when race officials confirmed that he had been docked ten seconds for an illegal hand-sling from team-mate Jakob Fuglsang, who was penalised by the same amount of time.

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The judges used Video Assist Referee as well as television images to make the decision that also saw the pair fined 500 Swiss francs.

While hand-slings are legal in the Madison event on the track they are illegal during road races.

The penalty means Lopez is now 4:09 behind race leader Primoz Roglic and 0:27 down on Tadej Pogacar who is in fourth and is the current white jersey holder.

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