Why Bernard and Ballerini were fined at the 2024 Tour de France: what happened

Rome, 6 July 2024 – In the beginning, fate had fallen to David Ballerini, then to Julien bernard, two wingmen who al Tour de France 2024 they hit the headlines not exactly for exploits linked to sporting exploits. The two, for different reasons and at different stages, ended up in the sights of the jury of the Great Boucle, this year more inflexible (and contested) than ever.

I dettagli

The runner ofAstana Qazaqstan Team he ended up in the book of villains on a historic day for the Tour de France: the one in which Mark Cavendish found his 35th victory overall, surpassing the previous record held hand in hand with Eddy Merckx. The record of the sprinterIsle of Man, who had even risked going out of time in the first stage, could not leave indifferent a teammate who shared the ordeal of the last few months, those of the retirement first announced and then postponed precisely to chase the dream. And indeed Dancers does not remain indifferent to the winning sprint of Cavendish a Saint-Vulbas: neither during, when the canturino, after having carried out his duties as 'pilot fish', was removed from the group, almost stopping to admire the Briton's sprint on the giant screen, nor afterwards, when he received the fine from 200 Swiss francs for 'behavior contrary to the image of cycling'. The afterthought in these cases is that the jury is often more lenient towards the French riders: an afterthought contradicted by another similar case, which is dividing enthusiasts and professionals. We go through stage 5 to the stage 7, the one that proposed the first time trial on the roads of Burgundy-Franche-Comté, those at home for Bernard, not surprisingly welcomed by two wings of the crowd: complete with a romantic kiss to his wife and little son in his arms. At the end of the stage also the long distance rider of the Lidl Trek he received the same fine from 200 Swiss francs, but unlike Dancers he replied with sarcasm and sagacity through a post on his social networks aimed atUCI: "I'm sorry to have damaged the image of the sport, but I would be happy to pay 200 Swiss francs every day to still experience moments like this."

Milan-Sanremo 2025 also for women?

L'UCI it doesn't end up at the center of discussions just because of thorny cases like these. Moving on to women's cycling, it seems that the International Federation are thinking of creating one Milan-Sanremo feminine starting from 2025, thus continuing that process of calendar alignment. In this case, the possible Very classic in pink could take place on the same day as the men's one, therefore the 22 March 2025, but first as a roadmap, to then allow the transfer of the athletes to Cittiglio to play the following day Trophy Alfredo Binda. If this hypothesis becomes reality, out of five Classical Monument only the Tour of Lombardy would remain without the women's race, but in turn this project is also in the pipeline for the next few years.

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