Maxim Van Gils was slapped with a 1500 CHF (£1,290/$1,676) fine for shoulder barging into a competitor in the final 500m of Tour de France stage 13.
While Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the stage, Van Gils was judged to have hit Amaury Capiot (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) with his shoulder in the build-up to the sprint in Pau on Friday, which caused Capiot to crash. The collision also took out Cees Bol (Astana-Qazaqstan) as well as Van Gils’ sprinter, Arnaud De Lie, in the process.
The race jury said that the Lotto Dsnty rider fell foul of Article 2.12.007-8.2.1 of the UCI’s statute book, namely “improper conduct (hit with the shoulder that endangers other riders)”. He was also fined 60 UCI points, with the points being an important goal for his team.
Footage shows Capiot drifting over to the right-hand side of the rode, squeezing Van Gils into the barriers, before the Belgian pushes with his shoulder, which causes the crash.
“Maxim got stuck into Amaury Capiot and the barriers, as Capiot went to the left a little bit,” Lotto Dstny sports director Kurt Van de Wouwer said. “Maxim didn’t make any mistake, he just got blocked. We are disappointed of course, as we did a great race today.
“We were in the break with two riders, afterwards also Brent [Van Moer] rode a very aggressive race and we weren’t awarded for that today. In the weekend the mountains are coming and it will be more difficult, but we will try with Maxim and Harm [Vanhoucke].”
It is not the first time the 24-year-old has got into trouble with the UCI’s commissaires. Last year, Van Gils was handed a 25-day ban from competition after he slapped another rider on the back of the head at the Japan Cup Criterium in October.
He was caught on camera slapping Greek rider Georgios Bouglas on the back of his helmet as the two riders crossed the finish line.
On Thursday at the Tour de France, both Mark Cavendish and Arnaud Démare were relegated after the sprint for deviating from their lines, with the pair also receiving fines of 500 CHF each. However, Van Gils’ conduct has resulted in the biggest fine of the Tour so far.
