Sticky bottle controversy hits the Giro d'Italia as fans question stage winner Filippo Zana's team car help; Reaction to British Cycling transgender policy update; Giro queen stage; Paris taken over by waves of cycling commuters + more on the live blog

There's been a bit of discussion about this since yesterday's stage...

I love the aspect of a national champion winning on his home roads, whether it's ahead of Thibaut or not.

But at some point, you may wonder if the team car should get the win too, after all it helped Zana massively, especially the second time round... @UCI_cycling#Giro pic.twitter.com/NWLbh1IoqZ

— Guillaume (@GuillaumeWatt) May 25, 2023

The two incidents showing, an admittedly pretty normal sight in professional bike racing — a rider, having dropped back to the team car, holding onto a bottle while the driver of said car accelerates, bringing them back to breakaway with minimal effort — the famous sticky bottle... (or in the second case 'sticky glasses' as pointed out by one eagle-eyed commenter)...

I dare say you could go back and find a similar incident from every single stage of the Giro so far however, naturally, when the rider involved goes on to win the stage, beating a very popular rider looking for their final Grand Tour stage win before retirement, the scrutiny is always going to be a touch more intense.

But did Zana/Jaco AlUla do anything wrong?

The commissaires thought so, Zana and his team director David McPartland appearing on the jury's end-of-stage fines list for "Irregular feeding (sticky bottle for short distance)" and will pay 200 CHF (£179) each...

Some have suggested the punishment doesn't go far enough, arguing Zana should lose his stage win, the claim being that in the second video he was being dropped, although the languid nature of his dropping back to the team car, plus the fact that once back on the Italian champion stuck with Pinot's attacks on the remaining two climbs before beating him in the sprint, suggests this was hardly a rider pedalling squares...

Anyway, you didn't come here to hear my ramblings, here's what the fans made of it...

He was dropped with Pronskiy and calls his car

I wouldn’t tweet this if it was just a case of going back to the car, otherwise I’d make 1000 of them each race

— Guillaume (@GuillaumeWatt) May 25, 2023

Well yeah but strategically cheating, is still cheating

If you do it because you've gone to your car to get water, that's fine

But he was dropped. That's my issue here

— Guillaume (@GuillaumeWatt) May 25, 2023

At this point Zana's teammate, and fellow breakaway extraordinaire, Alessandro De Marchi got involved... "How could he be dropped and then be one of the strongest with Pinot? I went back to the car intentionally. Please! This are not the bidoncollè that make you win a stage, believe me! 

Of course it helps but it’s not changing anything of the race guys! Not in this way and this moment of the race. This comments just show that (probably) you never experienced proper bike racing. And I’m saying this without criticism or offensively

— Alessandro De Marchi (@ADM_RossodiBuja) May 26, 2023

One of those Grand Tour days with two battles within the day — for stage victory and then, minutes later, for GC. Santiago Buitrago, the Colombian climber, became the fourth rider of this Giro to beat Derek Gee to a stage as the Canadian finished second again (that's SIX top fives for Gee)...

Santiago's MOMENT 🇨🇴

Santiago Buitrago wins Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia! ☝️@SantiagoBS26 | @BHRVictorious pic.twitter.com/J0fCYhaA3n

— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 26, 2023

Behind, after a day that in many ways summed up this entire Giro — a slow burn, tension building, the promise of action further up the road — Primož Roglič took three seconds back on Thomas.

For a few hundred metres it looked as though it might be the Welshman stealing a further advantage but Roglič, on his changed bike with 1x 10-44t gravel gearing, came past to tighten the maglia rosa battle further, ahead of tomorrow's decisive TT.

26 seconds between G and Roglič, Almeida at 59 seconds. Who will be wearing pink in Rome?

🤕🙈 @Carlos_Verona | #Giro

Seguimos adelante con @jjrojillas y el madrileño. Más de 8’ de margen, menos de 70 km al final.pic.twitter.com/BR7aSo38yi

— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) May 26, 2023

One that happened away from the TV cameras, but Italian broadcaster RAI quickly reported that one of the AG2R Citroën team cars had been ejected from the race. The reports suggest the directeur sportif struck the Movistar rider while driving behind the breakaway.

Just one team car left for the French outfit. With riders in the break, and Aurélien Paret-Peintre riding a decent GC, that creates a bit of a headache... although admittedly not quite the pain of Verona's literal wounds...

> British Cycling updates transgender policy, introduces new "Open" category

Some big news just landed...

> Emily Bridges calls British Cycling "failed organisation", says trans woman have been "banned" as new "Open" category announced

Who needs police escort when you have Madis Mihkels? 🚨 #TourOfNorway pic.twitter.com/c8TA4Ys5yG

— Intermarché-Circus-Wanty (@IntermarcheCW) May 25, 2023

Hugh Carthy's Giro is over, the climber from Preston abandoning the race ahead of the queen stage, his team citing stomach problems that he has been struggling with for a few days. Carthy, who has twice finished in the top ten of the Italian Grand Tour, lost more than four minutes on maglia rosa Geraint Thomas after being dropped early on the penultimate climb.

His team announced: "Hugh Carthy won't be able to start today's stage of the Giro d'Italia. He has been struggling with stomach issues for a few days so he'll return home to rest and recover. Great effort, Hugh."

> Petition with "factual errors" to scrap low-traffic neighbourhood launched by a "keen cyclist" after just two months of trial