One week into the 2026 Tour de France, fans have been treated to thrilling racing, spectacular riding, unexpected twists, more expected twists and just enough drama. Teams? They’ve mostly been treated to fines. After seven stages of racing, commissaires have handed out €8,000 in fines. Oh, and seven yellow cards.

Tour de Fines

Alpecin-Premier Tech’s Assistant Sports Director, Frederik Willems took a double hit, two €500 fines, for disposing of waste outside a litter zone on Stage 7. Two days earlier, the team’s Sports Director, Christoph Roodhooft earned another €700 for his driving in the caravan of cars following the racers. Lotto-Intermarchés ASK, Pieter Vanspeybrouck was similarly fined €500.

It was stage 2 and 3, though, that made up the bulk of UCI’s fine spree. Before officials decided to respond to the brutal heat riders were dealing with and really loosen the rules on feed zones, the UCI handed out 5,100 in fines over two stages. Those were almost entirely related to section 4.11, i.e. irregular refuelling, or related offences. All but two €500 fines, which went to Kurt Vanderborre, one of the photo moto drivers and photographer Jean Anotoine Ponce, a photographer on the moto.

Yellow jerseys and yellow cards

While all eyes were on the yellow jersey as it moved around between riders, UCI was busy giving out yellow cards. Seven yellow cards were handed out in seven days, though the distribution was quite uneven.

Those two stages also saw the bulk of the yellow cards handed out. Five of seven reprimands were handed out over those two days. All in, five of the yellow cards distributed during the first week went to team staff, mostly for feeding related offences. The photo and moto fines to Ponce and Vanderborre also came with yellow cards. I’ll admit I did not know photographers were eligible for yellow cards.

There’s still two weeks of racing remaining. Which means another 14 opportunities for the UCI to find new ways to hand out fines. Unless the heat exceptions are retracted, the governing body will have to get a bit more creative if it wants to match its tally from the first two weeks.