Egan Bernal has been fined 500 Swiss Francs and docked 25 UCI points after he was deemed to have littered outside of the designated refuse collection zones on stage 3 of the Tour de France.
The Ineos rider now risks being docked a minute in the overall standings in the event of a second offence, while a third littering infraction would see Bernal expelled from the Tour altogether.
Bernal was one of three riders sanctioned by the commissaires on stage 3 to Bayonne, with Ramon Sinkeldam (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Chris Harper (Jayco-Alula) also fined and docked UCI points for the same offence.
The UCI introduced stricter rules on littering in the Spring of 2021, and there was immediately a high-profile case when Michal Schär was controversially excluded from that year’s Tour of Flanders for throwing a bidon outside of the designated zone.
On the 2021 Giro d’Italia, meanwhile, João Almeida successfully appealed for a case of mistaken identity when he was mistakenly penalised for a first littering offence.
Since the tighter rules were introduced, no rider has been ejected from a Grand Tour for littering.
Bernal currently lies 18th overall, 43 seconds behind yellow jersey Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). He surrendered that time when he missed the key move on stage 1 to Bilbao, but he finished with the front group on the following day’s stage to San Sebastian.
The 2019 Tour winner has returned to the race this year for the first time since he withdrew through injury in the pandemic-delayed edition of 2020. Bernal’s 2022 season was ruined by the injuries he sustained in a life-threatening training crash, while he was troubled by a knee injury sustained at the Vuelta a San Juan in the early months of this campaign.
