Peter Sagan and UCI to meet in court over Tour de France disqualification

Peter Sagan and the management company of his Bora Hanshgrohe team will face the UCI at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on 5 December as they seek to have the triple world champion’s disqualification from this year’s Tour de France overturned.

Sagan had already clinched one stage and was aiming to win a record equalling sixth successive green jersey when, at the end of Stage 4 in Vittel, he was involved in a crash with Dimension Data’s Mark Cavendish, who sustained a broken shoulder blade.

> Mark Cavendish out of Tour de France, Peter Sagan disqualified

Following the stage, the race jury imposed a 30-second time penalty on Sagan, who was also relegated to last place in the group he was in, costing him potential points in the green jersey competition.

But a couple of hours later, commissaires confirmed that they had thrown the Slovak rider out of the race after studying the footage again and concluding that “he [had] endangered multiple riders.”

The following day, Sagan told the press before the stage start that while he did not agree with the commissaires decision, he would accept it.

> Videos: Peter Sagan says he accepts Tour de France disqualification - but disagrees with it

Bora-Hansgrohe had been hopeful that an urgent appeal to the CAS might result in him being allowed to start that stage, but the decision did not come through until the following day and was in the UCI’s favour, so Sagan remained disqualified.

> Court of Arbitration for Sport rejects appeal against Peter Sagan's Tour de France disqualification

Six months on, any victory at the CAS on Sagan’s might be a Pyrrhic one but could have implications for how the race jury reviews similar incidents immediately after a stage in the future.

The forthcoming appeal will revolve around whether the correct procedures were followed in ejecting him from the race and in particular whether Sagan was denied the opportunity to provide his own version of events to the jury before it made its decision.