Two riders have been disqualified from the 2.2 Tour Cycliste International de la Guadeloupe for holding onto a team car, with a video of the pair committing the offence circulating on social media.
The team car at the centre of the incident belonged to US Continental team Competitive Edge Racing, with Bermuda national champion Nicholas Narraway getting caught and kicked off the race. Curiously, the other rider involved wasn't a teammate, but Jason Jacquet Cretides from French club side Uni Sport Lamentinoi.
Despite Jacquet Cretides not making it to the finish, both riders were fined 100CHF, docked 25 UCI points, and removed from the race for "holding on to own team vehicle" according to the UCI communique from stage 4 of the French overseas island stage race in the Caribbean.
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A video posted to X showed the two riders holding onto open windows on either side of a team vehicle. Competitive Edge Racing sports director Christopher Drummond was also fined 100 CHF, excluded from the convoy on stage 5 with no car or feeding for the team, and relegated to last place in the convoy for the next stages.
It's the second year running that controversy and a viral social media video of cheating have followed the now 10-day stage race.
12 months ago, Tenniglo Niels and Huub Van Kapel of the RC Jan Van Arckel club team were disqualified after getting caught hiding behind a car and sneaking back into the peloton after getting dropped due to a mechanical.
A video of the pair similarly went viral, allowing the commisaires to identify them from their race numbers and order their removal from the race.
"I had two videos to support this big charade, because that's what it is. It's very serious!" said Frédéric Théobald, the president of the Guadeloupe Islands Regional Cycling Committee, at the time. "The commissaire excluded them during the race. They continued, but they were excluded.
"I remind you that cycling is a sport that is practised by pedalling and holding onto your handlebars, your handlebars and nothing else... It's dangerous."
The race continues with stage 6 on Wednesday, with German Tobias Nolde (Team Vorarlberg) and former UAE Team Emirates Gen Z rider Owen Cole (Team Winston Salem-Flow) on the same time in the lead of the race.
