Penalties all around

By Brecht Decaluwé in Briançon

After stage 9 there were again many riders who received penalties for infringements they made that day. Among them was stage winner Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez who was punished with a 20" GC penalty and 200 Suisse Francs for receiving a disallowed feed during the final 11 kilometres.

Together with the 1000 Suisse Francs that the team has to pay it is a lot of money but the team will be glad to shell out the euro since they now have a stage win under their belt. There was also a more common name on the list, Stéphane Augé of Cofidis, who once again received a 10" GC penalty and has to pay 50 Suisse Francs as he was caught being pushed when taking on the bottle.

At the start of the stage the French rider confirmed once again that he was planning on some sort of protest to point out to the officials that they exaggerating. "At some stage after Marseille we will do something, we will find a way to do something to take on bottles in another way," Augé entrusted Cyclingnews' Brecht Decaluwé. For now, Augé is still using the old style of taking on bottles... and penalties.