Ben O’Connor fined, docked 20 UCI points for missing Vuelta a España podium ceremony at Lagos de Covadonga

To add insult to inconvenience, Ben O’Connor had finally descended Lagos de Covadonga for the second time on Tuesday evening when he learned that he had been fined 1000CHF and docked 20 UCI points for his troubles after stage 16 of the Vuelta a España.

The charge – “failing to attend official ceremonies or failing to respect the 10-minute deadline after the rider crosses the finish line” – felt rather like over-zealous officialdom manifest. At least some of the responsibility surely lay with the race organisation, who didn’t have a chaperone on hand to marshal O’Connor from the finish line to the podium a few hundred metres below the summit.