The yellow card system has been in full effect since 1st January 2025 – its effectiveness is up for debate.
Cor Vos
Danny van Poppel was the first to cross the finish line on stage 3 of the Lidl Deutschland Tour, but instead of mounting the podium to celebrate his fourth win of the season, he was handed a yellow card for “Deviation from the chosen line that obstructs or endangers another rider, or irregular sprint.”
So, no fourth win of 2025 for the Dutch national champion, but it was his fourth yellow card.
What does that mean? Well, besides relegation on this stage, not a great deal, it would seem.
It was a scrappy sprint, but Van Poppel appears to switch his ‘lane’ not just once, but perhaps as many as three times. Also watch Sam Watson in white behind Van Poppel, and race leader Søren Wærenskjold in the blue skinsuit.
Van Poppel actually has the dubious honour of having earned the first yellow card of 2025 way back at the Tour Down Under, his infraction on that occasion coming while he was on lead-out duty for stage-winner Sam Welsford, ‘obstructing’ another rider as he pulled off the front. He then became the first to receive a second at the UAE Tour a month (31 days) later, and on stage 3 of the the Tour de France (135 days later), he became the only rider to date to reach three – and now four, 47 days after his last, making his collection double that of anyone else in the men’s or women’s pro pelotons.
And yet, Van Poppel hasn’t come particularly close to his yellows being upgraded to red, outside of single events where two cards would mean disqualification and short suspension. The only rider to have been subject to the full extent of the new regulation is Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Oscar Riesebeek who was picked up twice for the “use of sidewalks/pavements, paths or cycle lanes that do not form part of the race route” on stages 2 and 5 of the Baloise Belgium Tour in June, resulting in a seven-day suspension.
The letter of the law
Yellow cards were first introduced among a raft of new safety initiatives last summer, with trials planned at a handful of WorldTour events starting with the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in early August, a proof of concept without lasting sanctions like disqualification and suspension.
Those lasting sanctions would then be imposed in full from 1st January 2025, as follows:
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