Pello Bilbao has been warned by the UCI commissaires jury at the Tour de France after punching a spectator while racing up the Col de la Loze on stage 17.
The Bahrain Victorious rider was caught on camera hitting out at a fan with his right hand as he raced towards the summit of the Tour’s highest peak along with Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).
A fan was running alongside Harper, just in front of Bilbao, as the breakaway trio battled their way up the final 3km of the HC-rated climb inside the final 10km of the stage, leaving the Basque rider with no space to move into. As he sought to move past Harper, he swiped out at the fan before racing on.
After the stage, Bilbao’s action appeared on the day’s list of commissaires decisions, earning himself a warning for ‘inappropriate behaviour (towards a spectator)’. He was served an ‘official notice’ and didn’t receive a fine or any other punishment for his swipe.
In the end, stage 10 winner Bilbao raced home for third on the stage behind Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) and runner-up Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), who had accelerated away earlier on the climb. He jumped up to sixth overall as a result, and now lies within striking distance of Carlos Rodríguez in fourth, 39 seconds down.
Ouch! 🤬👊 Pello Bilbao was not happy with the intrusion of one spectator onto his racing line!#TDF2023 #sbstdf #couchpeloton#sbstdf #couchpeloton #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/K4UzCVsst3July 20, 2023
Bilbao’s move wasn’t the only infraction of the day, with ex-rider turned France Télévisions commentator Thomas Voeckler and his motorbike pilot taken off the race for stage 18 after their motorbike stalled on the climb.
The pair’s motorbike stalled on a steep bend towards the top of the climb, holding up a race organisation car as a result and in turn blocking the road for Jonas Vingegaard and Wilco Kelderman.
The pair were sanctioned for violating regulations concerning ‘the circulation of vehicles in the race’ and ‘non-compliance with the press specification before the summit of the Col de la Loze’ and received a 500CHF fine in addition to be taking off the race for Thursday’s stage 18.
Other penalties handed out during the Alpine queen stage included a 500CHF fine for EF Education-EasyPost director and exclusion from stage 18 for team press officer Kier Place for ‘irregular refuelling’ with team assistants standing too far to the middle of the road, a 200CHF fine for Jayco-AlUla rider Lawson Craddock for…
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