Movistar Unhappy With Punishment After Volta a Cataluntya Time Trial

Movistar has reacted to the one minute penalty all their riders were given during the team time trial at the Volta a Catalunya.

JJ Rojas was adjudged to have pushed Nelson Oliveria and Andrey Amador and the three were given penalties. However, this morning the race commisars re-read the rules and decided that all the riders in the team should been given a one minute penalty.

Movistar have issued the following press statement:

"After the events that happened following the team time trial of the Volta a Catalunya, with a one-minute penalty being eventually imposed over the eight riders that claimed victory on the stage yesterday, the Movistar Team wants to express its complete disagreement towards the sanction received.

It's a penalty due to an infringement which we consider absolutely non-existent. The rider performing the action does not "push" his team-mates, but touches the back of them with his right hand to warn them that they must take his position into the team row, a fact that doesn't influence the race's outcome at all.

We deeply regret that a sporting event sees its results distorted by the application of a rule which punishes pushing between team-mates, something which, as shown by the images, was not the case yesterday. We consider this sets a dangerous precedent for the future, since any touch between riders from now on will have to be punished.

- Video. Rojas, back number #4, puts his hand for less than a second on his team-mates' back: 50 hundredths of a second on Amador, back number #3 (from 42'51"55 to 42'52"05, Movistar Team's racing time -lower end of pictures-), and 80 hundredths of a second on Oliveira, back number #7 (from 43'17"18 to 43'17"97).

- Pictures. His right-hand arm remains in the same position, which shows that he only tries to warn his team-mates so they take their position into the row."

By Kev Monks for Digital Sports Group