Primož Roglič has been docked 20 seconds by the commissaires at the Vuelta a España for drafting behind the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team car following his bike change ahead of the final climb to Cuitu Negru on stage 15.
After placing fifth on the stage, Roglič had initially closed to within 43 seconds of red jersey Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R) atop the Vuelta a España GC standings. He remains second overall after the time penalty, but his deficit is now 1:03 as the race breaks for its second and final rest day.
Roglič stopped to switch bikes with a little over 20km to go in the valley before the start of the final haul to the finish. The Slovenian made the decision to switch to a single chainring set-up to tackle the viciously steep upper reaches of Cuitu Negru, where the gradient touched 24%.
The race jury deemed that Roglič and his teammates Daniel Martinez and Roger Adria had claimed an illegal benefit from the team car. The riders were each docked 20 seconds on GC and 15 UCI points for "sheltering behind or taking advantage of the slipstream of a vehicle." They were also fined 200CHF apiece.
Directeur sportif Shane Archbold was fined 500CHF for his part in the incident. Archbold was also fined a further 1000CHF for "breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race."
His fellow directeur sportif Patxi Vila was fined 500CHF for a separate sticky bottle incident involving Martinez, who was fined a further 200CHF.
Roglič had been tipped by some to divest O'Connor of the overall lead at Cuitu Negru, but although the Slovenian gained ground on the red jersey, he was briefly dropped by Enric Mas (Movistar) in the finale.
Although Roglič finished the stage with Mas, his 20-second time penalty means that the Spaniard has closed to within 1:20 of his second place overall.
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the 2024 Vuelta a España - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage as it happens and more. Find out more.
