Cycling, Van Poppel makes history for first yellow card

Rome, 22 January 2025 - Among the many regulatory innovations introduced by theUCI for the 2025 there is the introduction of cards to try to limit incorrectness in sprints: in the women's version of the Tower Down Under, won by Noemi Ruegg, the yellow flag was seen waving by a sports director in the team car, while in the men's competition, which reached the second stage, the honour (so to speak) went to Danny Van Poppel, which therefore enters in its own way into the history books of cycling.

I dettagli

 The great protagonist also becomes, in spite of himself, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, which on one hand sees the success, the second on as many fractions, of Sam Welsford and on the other hand witnesses the card given to the Dutchman, a precious last man to launch the sprint. Mission accomplished in that day Tanunda, but with several asterisks: starting from the demotion to last place and arriving at the yellow, for two measures taken by the jury for a dangerous maneuver by Van Poppel that actually damaged the other riders in the race. In particular, the brother of Height, instead of moving to the side of the road, thus allowing the other athletes still in the running for the sprint to pass, remained in the middle, slowing down quite abruptly before moving to the right and thus blocking the passage to Tobias Lund Andresen. Now that the 'criminal record' of Van Poppel it is no longer immaculate in the eyes of theUCI, the threat of a disqualification becomes real. In detail, with 2 yellow cards in a one-day race or in a stage race, such as the Tower Down Under, a disqualification looms on the horizon and 7 day suspension, effective from the day following the second provision. Instead, 3 tag in a period of 30 days lead to 14 day suspension, always starting from the day of the second yellow, while 6 in one year they lead to 30 days of stop with the same effective date parameter.

The crisis of Arkéa-B&B Hotels

 He has even more serious problems.Arkea-B&B Hotels, who seriously risks having started his last year in cycling: word of the general manager Emmanuel Hubert, intercepted by the microphones of The Team. "It's tough having to hunt for sponsors every day, but I love this team and my employees. Together with our partners, we are taking a responsible view with a six-month horizon to decide whether to stay or not. So, by the end of March or at the latest the beginning of April we will know if we will continue beyond the 2025 or not. The difficulties of the French team are not only economic, but also sporting, as the sports director hinted Didier Rous. "We will reduce the number of race days compared to the past to try to be more competitive, also because we don't have the right lineup for every race. So, we will try to concentrate our efforts in a few races to score as many points as possible".