You may want to be a smidge more careful next time you’re getting a nice little keepsake from a bike race. Well, don’t worry, the UCI is on that.
At the Giro d’Italia–like many big races, it’s sometimes tricky for the lads to take a little whizz off the bike. Why? Because there are people everywhere. But when you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go, especially when you are constantly hydrating. So what’s a boy to do? Well, seems like some of the ragazzi in Italy have decided to do the old tried-and-true method of peeing into a bottle. (Hey, no one said pro cycling would be easy, fellas.)
Beware the bidon
In the post-race UCI Communiqué, a few got the usual fines, you know like a sticky bottle, but some got it for an icky bottle.
-Mirco Maestri fined 200 CHF for sticky bottle; DS Ellena Giovani fined 500 CHF
-Christopher Juul-Jensen fined 500 CHF and -25 UCI points for disposing of waste outside litter zones
-Lennert Van Eetvelt fined 200 CHF for urinating in public during the race and damaging the image of the sport
-David De La Cruz fined 500 CHF for inappropriate behaviour and damaging the image of the sport
“Commissaires’ statement: riders are explicitly warned that urinating into a bottle and then discarding it is strictly prohibited to protect cycling’s image,” as La Flamme Rouge reported.
Monday is a day off, so there is no rush to worry about getting dropped when you have a nature break–and Tuesday is a TT, so yeah, you ain’t gonna need that either. But by Wednesday, the tough stuff returns. (Well, a TT is tough if you’re going for the win or the GC, but the majority of the peloton will be on cruise control.) Stage 11 goes from Porcari District to Chiavari for a total of 195 km, and there be some hills. After Tuesday, there will most likely be some changes in the overall, too.