Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) was punished for a dangerous sprint after stage 5 of the Giro d'Italia, after appearing to cut across Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan), who went on to crash dramatically over the finish line in Salerno.
Dainese crossed the line in fourth place in the messy sprint finish but was later relegated to last position in the group he was in – the reduced bunch that reached the finish together after the two crashes in the final 10km.
The Italian sprinter will also concede any points gained in the points classification and receive a 500CHF fine.
"Following a review from the race jury, Alberto Dainese has been relegated in the results of today's sprint finish," said Team DSM. "We accept the jury's decision and once again hope those who crashed in the finale are okay."
Dainese and Cavendish came together inside the final 100 metres of the stage, with Cavendish drifting right and then Dainese looking to get out to the left.
Cavendish had appeared set to launch his sprint out to the left but his rear wheel slipped on a section of white paint and he was forced to relent, choosing to then drift towards the right, back into the slipstreams of the leading sprinters.
At the same time, Dainese went left and nipped in front of Cavendish's path as he looked to open the taps into open road. Cavendish managed to avoid contact initially but his front wheel hit Dainese's rear wheel and he was flung over to the right.
Remarkably, he did not crash, but he buffeted into Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè sprinter Filippo Fiorelli, who was pinned against the barriers on the right, and that caused him to then bounce off and fly back over to the left.
At that point, his bike did go from underneath him and he slid across the line on the wet roads, in a result that now stands at fourth place.
Cavendish appeared to emerge from the crash without serious injuries but as he and his bike slid across the road several others were taken out, including David Dekker (Arkéa-Samsic), Mirco Maestri (Eolo-Kometa), and Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën), who worryingly was taken away on a stretcher.
AG2R later announced that Vendrame had suffered a shoulder separation as well as "a wound that requires stitches" in the crash.
The incident is shown in the video below. Do you think this was the right decision from the race jury? Let us know in the comments below.
