Prologue and stage 5 winner Julius Johansen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and two teammates exited the Volta a Portugal after finishing outside the time limit on stage 7, but claim that the time limit was calculated differently than stated.
After a crash, Johansen, Luca Giaimi and Marcos Freire, as well as three other riders, finished 39:23 down on stage winner Adrià Pericas (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and were deemed to be outside the time limit and therefore cut from the race.
Johansen had decided to take it easy to the finish after crashing, believing that he had time to play with regarding the time cut, but was surprised to find himself OTL at the finish line.
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The Danish rider took to Instagram overnight to complain that the time limit was not calculated as stated.
On Thursday, the time limit was officially calculated as 34:17, 15% of the stage winner's time, but the roadbook stated that the time limit for stage 7 would be 20% of the winner's time, which would have been 46 minutes – and therefore all six OTL riders would have actually been within the time limit.
"Today started well. I spent the first 40 minutes out alone before being caught by the peloton. Unfortunately, I then crashed on a descent after taking one corner too fast, completely my own mistake," Johansen said on Instagram.
"After the crash, I decided to save myself for the days ahead and ride safely to the finish. It was a very hard mountain stage, and with a 20% time limit stated in the roadbook, there was no reason to take unnecessary risks.
He ended up in a mini gruppetto with Giami and Freira, as well as fellow stage winner Santiago Mesa (Anicolor / Campicarn) thinking they were riding safely to the finish.
"We calculated that the time limit would be comfortably above 45 minutes, and we finished just under 40 minutes behind. So we thought everything was fine. Until we were told at the finish that the time limit had been changed to 15%," he said.
"None of us riders, nor our sports directors, had been informed about this change, not even during the pre-race meeting for all sport directors."
As of Friday morning, the online roadbook still lists the planned time limit for stage 7 as 20% and the Volta a Portugal has not publicly communicated otherwise. Cyclingnews has contacted the organisers for comment.
After winning two stages himself, and with teammate Pericas winning Thursday's stage, Johansen was understandably annoyed by being disqualified by a late regulation change.
"It’s incredibly frustrating and disappointing to leave a race this way, especially when I felt I had so much more to give in the coming days. Volta Portugal is a race I was really looking forward to, and I wanted to fight for more," he said.
"It feels even stranger on a day where the team rode an incredible race. [Pericas] finished it off with a fantastic victory, while three of us were eliminated."
UAE Team Emirates-XRG will now continue with only four riders, with Pericas in third overall, 1:57 down on the race lead.
"I’m extremely disappointed, but that’s cycling," Johansen concluded. "I’ll take the lessons from this and come back stronger."
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