UCI issues a record eight yellow cards as Jordi Meeus leads weekend's racing misdemeanours

The UCI issued more yellow cards than ever before at the weekend, with riders punished for riding on footpaths and sparking crashes.

The UCI has issued more than 50 yellow cards so far during the 2025 season, listing them all on a special page of the UCI website. 

Team staff, directeur sportif and even photographers and television crew motorbikes can be punished and given yellow cards as part of measures that aim to improve safety within the peloton. On Monday, the UCI confirmed that team staff can also be given yellow cards for causing danger in the feed zone during races.

Two yellow cards during the same event lead to disqualification and suspension for seven days, and the penalty for three cards in 30 days is a 14-day suspension. Six cards over 52 weeks can lead to a 30-day suspension.

Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) are the only riders to be slapped with two yellow cards, for a combination of deviating from the sprinters line, celebrating a teammates victory and so possible endangering other rides, and other misdemeanours. 

On Sunday, Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was given a belated yellow card after he rode up the inside of the peloton on the footpath before a corner and then sparked a crash at Gent-Wevelgem. Eurosport Netherlands described Meeus's manoeuvre as 'kamikaze' in a clip on social media.

The USA's Lily Williams took a memorable seventh in the women's Gent-Wevelgem race but was then given a yellow card for "Throwing of objects in a careless or dangerous manner onto the road or spectators." 

Williams tried to throw a bidon towards some spectators but it hit a bar and bounced back into the peloton. The UCI rules state that a yellow card can only be awarded for a second bidon offence, sparking confusion and questions. William's yellow card was initially confirmed on the UCI website but then removed.  

Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) finished second in Gent-Wevelgem but was punished with a yellow card, docked 25 UCI ranking points and fined 500 Swiss Francs ($560) for riding on a footpath. Giousè Epis (Arkea-B&B Hotels) was given the same punishment, with a sway of directeur sportif fined 500 Swiss Francs for an unidentified rider using the footpath during the race. 

These included Christophe Roodhoft (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Ken Vanmarcke (EF Education-EasyPost), Gino Van Oudenhove (Uno-X Mobility), Maarten Wynants (Visma-Lease a Bike), Stefano Zanini (XDS Astana), Jurgen Roelandts (Movistar), Dimitri Claeys (Intermarche) and Hans De Clerq (Lotto). Iljo Keisse (Soudal-Quickstep) was hit with a 1000 Swiss Franc fine for two unidentified riders using the footpath. 

Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease A Bike) was given a 500 Swiss Franc fine and docked 25 UCI points for littering outside a waste zone, while a photographer's motorbike pilot was given a yellow card and disqualified from the race for failing to respect the instructions of commissaires.  

Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) was given a yellow car on Saturday after stage 6 of the Volta a Catalunya for deviating from his line in the sprint, while Juan Pedro López was punished for celebrating and so decelerating during teammate Quinn Simmons's victory. 

Julius Johansen (UAE TRam Emirates-XRG) was also punished at the Volta a Catalunya on Sunday for using "a non-compliant position or point of support on the bicycle that represents a danger to the rider or competitors," most probably for using an aerotuck position during the fast descent of the Montjuïc circuit.