Juan Sebastián Molano has been disqualified from the Critérium du Dauphiné after being caught on camera hitting a fellow rider, Frenchman Hugo Page.
The Colombian sprinter, racing for UAE Team Emirates, was caught in footage shot from the TV helicopter pushing the Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert rider before angrily remonstrating with him inside the final 10km of stage 6.
He then reached out to forcibly hit the 20-year-old neo-pro, who was clad in the green jersey as the third-placed man in the points competition.
At the finish, after a further run-in with Page, Molano was summoned to the UCI commissaire's video referee truck, where the footage was reviewed and he made his defence case. However, a few minutes later he was expelled from the race.
In a statement from his team, Molano apologised for "a dangerous mistake" and said he understood why he was disqualified, but, speaking separately to journalists, blasted Page, with whom he said he'd had problems all race.
Page, similarly angry at Molano, explained to reporters that the incident occurred because Molano felt Page had cut across him in the battle for position in the peloton earlier in the race.
After the stage, the pair once again came together and Molano once again hit Page on the head, albeit more softly and amid heated debate over the incident. He was later called to the UCI jury truck and but was only informed of his fate once he'd returned to his team bus.
His action was considered dangerous by the officials, with the removal of hands from bars to lash out at a rider usually met with the same fate.
"On the run-in to the finish it was fast and tense and in the heat of the moment I made a dangerous mistake," said Molano in the statement.
"I'd like to apologise to Hugo Page and to all the riders for what happened. I understand why I was disqualified and can only say that I regret it and learn from it."
Molano had crossed the line in seventh place, with Page 14th, as the peloton rolled in 32 seconds behind the breakaway, with the stage won by TotalEnergies rider Valentin Ferron.
