David McCann was listed as the best Irish finisher on yesterday's tough stage of the Tour of Britain, placing nineteenth on the mountainous leg to Sheffield. First across the line was actually Roger Aiken, FBD Insurance Rás stage winner and national cyclo cross champion, who finished tenth on the stage after being involved in a long-distance breakaway for over 150 kilometres. However, he and team manager Morgan Fox were disqualified from the race by the judges, who said that the rider had held onto the team car while chasing back onto the front group during the stage.
Both protested their innocence, filing an ultimately unsuccessful appeal to the decision. "It is absolute nonsense," said a livid Fox afterwards. "Roger did a great ride today, really rode well for a young guy breaking through. They claimed that Roger hung onto a bottle for 15 seconds when he was chasing back on. He got a bottle from the team car, sure enough, but was holding it on a descent for about two seconds. That's absolutely normal in cycling, everyone does it and it is normally tolerated. He got no real help from it."
