The spectators of the fourth leg of the Tour of Spain Vuelta had to see a thrilling final sprint on Tuesday afternoon, the outcome of which was only clear in the photo finish. Fabio Jakobsen won ahead of Sam Bennett and third place went to German driver Max Walscheid. Actually.
Because the 26-year-old did not keep the podium place long. Because of an "irregular" sprint, he was placed back in 104th place, as his team "Sunweb" announced in the evening. What happened?
About 400 meters from the finish Walscheid struck his head in the direction of a counterparty. Whether - or how hard - he caught the other driver, is not clearly visible on the video recordings. See for yourself (the scene can be seen at about 2:57 minutes, Walscheid drives to the right and wears a red jersey):
"Sunweb" accepted the reset. Walscheid responded to a dangerous move by the rival, according to a team statement available on the Cyclingnews.com website. This is presumably Juan Sebastián Molano from UAE Team Emirates, who was also sent back.
"Unfortunately, Max was dismissed from third place because his reaction was judged to be too aggressive" after another driver got involved. "A decision that fully accepts the team," sporting director Luke Roberts told the site.