The Giro d'Italia is currently underway, and today moved into stage four, with Bob Jungels the fourth different leader the race has had in its opening rounds. With the race pretty open thus far, one man who won't be getting an opportunity to snaffle the lead is Javier Moreno, who was today disqualified from the race for what the UCI termed "an act of violence".
Video replays confirmed the exact nature of that act of violence: he was clearly seen grabbing hold of and then pushing rival cyclist, Sky's Diego Rosa. The incident occured around 20km from the finish line, and Rosa explained the incident to reporters after the race:
You can all see what happened. It was a stressful moment of the race. If a guy pushes the other guy out of the road … if he drops, and crashes, and breaks [his bike]. I fell, and changed my bike. It was a moment of stress, and we ran into each other, and then he touched me. I touched him, and then he threw me off.
You can watch it below.
Javier Moreno
Tensions flare in the peloton as Javier Moreno reaches out to tug back Diego Rosa in the #Giro100 pic.twitter.com/UeQb3Fj8fA
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 9, 2017
In addition to being banned from the rest of the race, Moreno was fined 200 Swiss Francs by the UCI. Moreno rides for Bahrain-Merida, and his teammate Vincenzo Nibali is currently ranked tenth, as he pursues a third Giro title.
See Also: Chris Froome's Bike Destroyed "On Purpose" By Angry Motorist
