The rule that cost Alaphilippe the yellow jersey

Stage five of the 2020 Tour de France was notably unremarkable, as the peloton stayed together for almost the entire race. In the last 20km the pace finally picked up and Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma took the final sprint, narrowly beating out Cees Bol who had a near perfect setup from his Sunweb teammates. The riders retuned to their team vans and the abbreviated COVID-safe ceremonies got underway. Julian Alaphilippe was set to spend another day in the race leader jersey, until an unexpected announcement came from the commissaries.

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An unexpected penalty

Alaphilippe had received a 20 second penalty for taking a feed with under 20km to go in the race. As he broke the ‘unauthorized feeding’ regulation by taking a bidon from a Deceuninck-QuickStep soigneur with 17.1km to go, he was served a time penalty and his team received a fine.

Although Alaphilippe held a four-second lead over Adam Yates of Mitchelton-Scott, because of the unauthorized feed Yates is the new race leader of the Tour de France. Jumbo-Visma’s Primož Roglič now sits second, three seconds behind Yates while Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates is in third, with seven seconds off the lead. Alaphilippe was bumped into 16th place—he is now 16 seconds behind Yates.

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A UCI regulation

UCI regulations state that ‘unauthorized feeding’ in the final 20km of a stage will cost a team 200CHF and a 20-second time penalty.

The regulation (2.3.027) says: “All feeding (from a car and on foot outside of the feeding zones signposted by the organiser) is strictly forbidden: during the 30 first and last 20 kilometres; in the last 500 meters before a sprint counting for a secondary classification (points classification, king of mountain classification or others), bonus sprint, feeding zone; in the first 50 meters after a sprint counting for a secondary classification (points classification, king of mountain classification or others), bonus sprint, feeding zone; on descents of mountains listed on the mountain classification; in any other area specified by the organizer or the commissaires panel.”

There are exceptions, but they did not apply today:“The commissaires panel may adapt the distances mentioned above, depending on atmospheric conditions and the category, type and length of the race. Such a decision must be communicated to the followers through radio-tour.”

Bittersweet

“Apparently I took a feed in a non-authorized zone,” Alaphilippe said. “That’s a 20-second penalty so it’s Yates in the yellow jersey, normally, I don’t know. I’m waiting for the confirmation, for it to be official. If that’s the case, that’s how it goes. It’s the decision of the jury so I can’t do anything about it.

The yellow jersey win was bittersweet for Yates. He was already on the team bus, ready to head back to the hotel when he was called back as the announcement was made. “It’s not the way I imagined taking the jersey,” he said, “If I’m honest I don’t think anybody wants to take a jersey like this.”