Sepp Kuss was on the verge of an incredible day on Saturday on the penultimate Tour de France stage to Alpe d’Huez. That effort was derailed by two crashes. The second, more frightening crash came above a steep drop off and left Kuss in the last feet of safety netting as eventual stage-winner Richard Carapaz flew by on the road, and onto the podium.
It was dramatic stuff, to be sure. The final insult, though, came after the finish line. The UCI’s busy officials hit Visma’s U.S. racer with a raft of post-race fines and penalties.
That included 1,500 Swiss Francs. That is roughly 2,500 when converted to Canadian dollars. Or, if Kuss takes it back home to the U.S., USD 1,800.
On top of the hefty cash, the UCI penalized Kuss 75 UCI points and a whopping one-minute time penalty.
What for?
Disposing of trash outside a designated waste zone. That’s Article 2.12.007-8.3 in UCI’s rule book.
After one week of racing, the UCI gives out €8,000 in fines and seven yellow cards
Kuss was hit for littering twice on Stage 20, which made the fines more severe.
The first offence levied 500 Swiss francs and 25 UCI points.
A second offence? Another 1,000 Swiss francs, 50 UCI points and the one-minute time penalty.
Rules don’t have feelings, but dang, that seems harsh.