The UCI, Peter Sagan and BORA–Hansgrohe have brought to an end the legal dispute about Sagan’s disqualification from this year’s Tour de France. All parties have agreed that the crash was “an unfortunate and unintentional race incident” and not deliberate.
Sagan and the management company of his Bora-Hanshgrohe team had been due to face the UCI at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) today in a bid to have the triple world champion’s disqualification from this year’s Tour de France overturned.
However, in advance of the hearing, video footage that was not available at the time when the race jury made its decision was viewed and the parties agreed not to continue with the legal proceedings and to instead focus on positive steps that could be taken in the future.
The new President of the UCI, David Lappartient, said that after reviewing the incident, 2018 World Tour races would make use of a video specialist.
“These proceedings have shown how important and arduous the work of the UCI Commissaires is. As of next season the UCI intends to engage a ‘Support Commissaire’ to assist the Commissaires Panel with special video expertise on the main events of the UCI World Tour.”
Sagan commented: “The past is already forgotten. It’s all about improving our sport in the future. I welcome the fact that what happened to me in Vittel has showed that the UCI Commissaires’ work is a difficult one and that the UCI has recognised the need to facilitate their work in a more effective way. I am happy that my case will lead to positive developments, because it is important for our sport to make fair and comprehensible decisions, even if emotions are sometimes heated up.”
BORA–Hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk added: “It has always been our goal to make clear that Peter had not caused Mark Cavendish’s fall. This was Peter’s position from day one. No one wants riders to fall or get hurt but the incident in Vittel was a race accident as can happen in the course of a sprint. My job as a team manager is to protect my riders and sponsors. I think that this is what we, as a team, have done. I am reinforced in my view that neither Peter nor BORA–Hansgrohe have made any mistakes.”
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