Pidcock Pays For Two Car Pushes With A 20-Second Penalty

Tom Pidcock's aggressive ride on stage 15 of the Tour de France has produced an additional cost. The Pinarello-Q36.5 rider was penalised for pushing off against a race car on two separate occasions during the road to Plateau de Solaison.

The race jury treated the incidents as two individual offences. Together, the sanctions amount to 20 seconds in the general classification, a fine of 400 Swiss francs, the loss of 30 UCI ranking points and the removal of eight points from his mountains-classification total.

The penalty does not change Pidcock's position in the overall standings. After the 20 seconds were added, he remains ninth, 11:19 behind race leader Tadej Pogačar and 9:05 ahead of Jordan Jegat in tenth place. It nevertheless adds a frustrating conclusion to a demanding day in which the Briton spent more than 100 kilometres in the breakaway and briefly moved much higher in the virtual general classification.

Pidcock had joined the escape for a third consecutive stage, continuing the attacking strategy that had lifted him close to the podium two days earlier. The breakaway was eventually broken apart on the Col de la Croisette, and he could not maintain the pace of the leading general-classification riders on the final ascent. He crossed the line in 13th place, 2:34 behind stage winner Remco Evenepoel.

Pushing off a team or race vehicle can give a rider a short but prohibited acceleration. The commissaires therefore have the option of combining a financial fine with sporting penalties when they consider that an advantage has been obtained. In Pidcock's case, each of the two actions brought a ten-second time penalty and deductions in the other classifications.

The decision does not end his Tour ambitions, but it underlines how closely assistance from cars is being monitored. Pidcock enters the final week securely inside the top ten, although his repeated breakaway efforts and the time lost at Solaison leave him with a difficult task if he wants to move closer to the podium again.