Gianni Moscon thrown out of Tour de France for hitting Fortuneo-Samsic rider
Team Sky's domestique allegedly hit a Fortuneo-Samsic rider just 800 m into Stage 15
Team Sky will be one man short heading into the Pyrenees after the Tour de France’s second rest day. Italian Gianni Moscon was thrown out of the race by organizers following Stage 15 from Millau to Carcassonne because of an altercation with another rider. The incident which took place in the opening kilometre was reviewed on video my commisaires following the conclusion of the stage.
Gianni Moscon exclu du #TDF2018 après avoir frappé un coureur Fortuneo ! pic.twitter.com/JzwOi5l8To
— Tout Le Sport (@toutlesport) July 22, 2018
Moscon finished 28th on Stage 15 coming across the line 13:11 back on Magnus Cort Nielson (Astana) who took the stage win ahead of Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segrafedo).
Moscon hit a Fortuneo-Samsic’s Elie Gesbert just 800 m into the 181-km stage. The decision to expel the Italian from the race came after race jury’s consulted with team Sky’s directeur sportif Nicolas Portal and team manager Dave Brailsford.
INFO EUROSPORT : Moscon a frappé un coureur de l’équipe Fortuneo après 800m de course aujourd’hui. #TDF2018 #LesRP
— Louis-Pierre Frileux (@LPFrileux) July 22, 2018
The Italian has been relied on by Sky to control breakaways leading the peloton in the early going of stages before handing things off to Sky’s other formidable support riders. The team is riding in support of four-time Tour winner Chris Froome and yellow jersey Geraint Thomas’s general classification ambitions.
It’s not the first time Moscon has been involved in unsavoury behaviour. Moscon was also disqualified from the 2017 world championships after holding onto his team car. At the 2017 Tour de Romandie, Moscon used racial slurs to insult Kevin Reza after which he was suspended six weeks by Team Sky.
Following that incident, Sébastien Reichenbach suffered a fractured elbow and hip at Tre Valli Varesine. The incident according to allegations was caused by Moscon’s dangerous behaviour and related to the incident at Romandie. The UCI case against Moscon involving Reichenbach’s crash was adjourned after an 11-hour hearing.
In response to Stage 15’s incident, Brailsford said, “We support and accept the decision by the race organisers to exclude Gianni Moscon from the Tour de France. Gianni is desperately disappointed in his behaviour and knows that he has let himself, the team and the race down,” Sky’s general manager said.
“We will address this incident with Gianni once the Tour is complete and decide then if any further action should be taken. I would like to offer my sincere apologies to both Elie Gesbert and Team Fortuneo Samsic for this unacceptable incident,” Brailsford said.
