Johan Bruyneel, Team RadioShack punished for Tour jersey incident
Team RadioShack has been punished and fined for breaching International Cyclist Union (UCI) regulations at the 2010 edition of the Tour de France.
At the starting line of the twentieth and final stage of the 2010 Tour de France, the riders and sporting directors of Lance Armstrong’s Team RadioShack showed up in unauthorized
black jerseys advertising the LiveStrong charity, violating UCI regulations. They had not informed the race commissaries beforehand and the stage start had to be delayed while the riders were required to change into their normal team jerseys.
“Team RadioShack’s incorrect behaviour led to a 20-minute delay to the start of the final stage, which could have disrupted the televised coverage of the race, placing the Commissaires under the obligation
to impose a fine on each rider and the team managers,” read the statement released on Friday by the UCI.
Team manager Johan Bruyneel has been fined 10,000 Swiss Francs, while the team’s sporting directors will each have to pay half that amount and the riders will each half to pay a quarter of that amount.
Additionally Bruyneel will be suspended from participating in any races for two months starting on February 1, 2011. He will still be allowed to join Armstrong at his final international competition, the Tour Down Under in January.
“I understand the race officials' decision and publicly apologize for offending any official or representative of the UCI. It is also my intent to personally apologize to UCI President Pat McQuaid for
my remarks,” he said.
Disciplinary proceedings were launched not only because of the initial infraction, but because team manager Bruyneel responded with childish insult published publicly on his Twitter page.
“Ok people! Now it’s official! To be a race commissar[e] you don’t need brains but only know the rules!" he wrote.
The team also went on to ignore the regulations once again by wearing the same unauthorized jerseys as they climbed to the podium, as RadioShack won the team classification at the Tour.
“The riders of the RadioShack team infringed art. 12.1.004 of the UCI Regulations during the last stage of the Tour de France 2010, related to the wearing of a non authorised jersey. In addition, Mr J.
Bruyneel publicly offended the UCI International Commissaires with his declarations.”
Tags: