Video: Nibali team-mate Javier Moreno thrown off Giro d'Italia after push on Sky rider Diego Rosa

Defending Giro d'Italia champion Vincenzo Nibali will be without one of his key support riders in the mountains during the rest of this year's race after Javier Moreno was filmed pulling back Team Sky's Diego Rosa ahead of the climb of Mount Etna that concluded today's fourth stage of the race.

Tensions flare in the peloton as Javier Moreno reaches out to tug back Diego Rosa in the #Giro100 pic.twitter.com/UeQb3Fj8fA

— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 9, 2017

However, other footage suggests that both riders were to blame for the confrontation, flicking elbows at each other as members of Team Sky passed on the left-hand side of the Bahrain-Merida team riding in support of Nibali - keep an eye on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen in the video here.

It was Moreno who was disqualified from the race for "acts of violence" however, as well as being handed a fine of 200 Swiss Francs, with Team Sunweb's Chad Haga tweeting that he had needed to dodge Rosa as the Team Sky man crashed as a result of the incident.

I had an excellent view of the tantrum and punches, then had to dodge Rosa as he crashed into spectators. This garbage needs to be punished! https://t.co/5O9B9b5IcU

— Chad Haga (@ChadHaga) May 9, 2017