In Vittel, 4th stage of the Tour de France 2017, Peter Sagan received a red card.
Excluded from the Grande Boucle.
Due to a stormy sprint, in its construction and in its conclusion which had notably led to the fall of Mark Cavendish.
The Slovak, despite the appeal filed by his team and studied until a few minutes before the start the next day, had to face the inflexibility of the jury of commissioners and had to pack his suitcase.
This Wednesday, in Poitiers, like the surprising sprint achieved by his teammate Pascal Ackermann on Tirreno-Adroatico, Peter Sagan was moving along the barriers.
A little cramped.
He saw an opening and forced the passage, putting his head a bit, leaning a bit with his left shoulder on Wout Van Aert in the final of a still high intensity sprint on the Tour.
Surprised, jostled, embarrassed in his sprint, angry Wout Van Aert held out a middle finger in the direction of his rival.
“I sprinted on a totally straight line.
He was on the right, tried to make space for himself.
It is not allowed.
It's pretty dangerous like that.
I was stunned at the time.
I felt something at the time of the maximum effort.
I was scared… ”Sagan's perilous maneuver did not escape the jury of commissioners.
Initially ranked 2nd behind the Australian Caleb Ewan (already winner in Sisteron, 3rd stage), the Slovak was downgraded (demoted to 85th and last place in the peloton) and lost a lot in the maneuver.
He who is aiming for an 8th green jersey in Paris is 68 points behind the Irishman Sam Bennett.
“The sprinters are different runners from us, they are a bit crazy. They fight in the sprint, you have to do it but in the rules, the decision is just ”
Primoz Roglic
“The sprinters are different runners from us, they are a bit crazy.
They are fighting in the sprint, it must be done but in the rules, the decision is just ”, summarized Primoz Roglic, the yellow jersey.
Caleb Ewan emphasized: “We are all caught up in the action at the time.
We don't think about safety, we think of crossing the line first.
I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt anyone.
I think we're all at the limit when it comes to trying to win a stage in the Tour.
No one thinks of safety or of braking.
Peter saw the space, he had even already engaged his handlebars when he was shaken a bit.
It looks worse on TV than it does in real life.
In fact it cost him the victory, if he could have passed without a problem, I think he would have won.
It's the sprint, it's like that… ”
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The appalling fall, during the recent Tour of Poland, of Fabio Jakobsen suffering from serious after-effects, after being sent into the background by Dylan Groenewegen, reminded the danger of driving errors and urged caution.
Peter Sagan once again played with fire.
The intensity of the action, the speed of the race sometimes expose sprinters, in their bubble, to excessive risk-taking.
Sagan was punished.
Far from the excitement, Caleb Ewan could savor his second stage success on this Tour, the fifth of his career on the Grande Boucle.
“I want more but I don't have a number in mind.
I don't know how many years I will manage to be competitive in the sprint.
The Tour de France is the race that Australians follow.
I want to make my country proud.
Elsewhere, I would like to win Milan-San Remo, the world championships and a classic in Belgium. ”
Peter Sagan (5th in Nice and Sisteron, 4th in Privas, 13th in Lavaur, 3rd on the Ile de Ré), he is impatient and is still chasing after a stage victory ...
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