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Porte penalized two minutes, 200 francs for Orica’s help



FORLÌ, Italy (VN) — Australian Orica-GreenEdge team went out of its way to help Team Sky’s Australian captain Richie Porte as the Giro d’Italia sped toward Forlì on Tuesday. The fair-play gesture of Australian Simon Clarke, giving and changing Porte’s wheel, was intended to save the Sky rider, who is trying to win the overall on May 31 in Milan, but it cost them each two minutes and 200 Swiss Francs ($213 USD).

Porte slid backward as the race sped into Forlì on Italy’s east coast. An escape rode for its life, the sprint teams chased for fast men like André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), and Porte tried to limit the damage.

Though Porte received a quick wheel change thanks to Clarke and an express ride with his Sky teammates, he finished 47 seconds behind the sprinters’ group, which included race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).

Because of the loss, Porte slid from third to fourth overall at 1:09 minutes behind Contador. Mikel Landa jumped to third place, sitting right below Astana teammate Fabio Aru in second at three seconds.

Once the four-person UCI race jury looked at the images, though, it called a quick meeting. After one hour, it docked both Porte and Clarke two minutes and 200 francs. It applied Rule 12.1.040 / 8.2: “Non regulation assistance to a rider of another team.”

The riders could have received a five- or 10-minute penalty, but because it was their first offense, they got away with only two minutes.

When the new pink classification sheets arrived in the pressroom, Porte sat 12th overall, 3:09 behind.

Sky’s head sport director, Dario Cioni said, “No comment” when approached by reporters. He climbed into the team’s black car and drove for the hotel, where Porte awaited the news.

Penalização completamente ridícula. Se são estas as regras, que sejam mudadas. Nem a fantástica demonstração de fair play do Simon Clarke foi valorizada com esta medida...