Kittel knocked down from 4th to 138th in the overall classification after corrections
Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) gets a bike change (Image credit: Getty Images)
UCI judges at the Tour de France have made significant revisions to the stage 2 classification, almost four hours after the stage ended in a bunch sprint won my world champion and new overall race leader Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).
The revisions were made after it came to light that the UCI judges had made an error with regard to the chaotic final that involved mechanicals and crashes late in the stage. Cyclingnews has published the updated results on our stage 2 report page.
A crash on the tight right-hander with just 2km out saw some of the peloton's top sprinters — including race leader Fernando Gaviria — taken out of contention by the crash on a left turn. Bora-Hansgrohe led the reduced front group to deliver Sagan his tenth Tour de France stage victory.
The new updated standings, released at 9:38 p.m. and then distributed by race organiser ASO at 10:22 p.m. local time in France, show Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) pushed down in the overall ranking. He was initially listed at fourth place overall at 12 seconds behind overall leader Sagan, and is now 138 in the overall classification at 4:14 back.
In addition, Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), who was an all-day breakaway, has been bumped up from fifth to fourth place, still at 13 seconds back. All the other riders below fourth place have also moved up one place.
Chavanel’s time off the front ended with 13km to go, as the sprinters' teams rallied for the expected bunch kick. Eight kilometres out, Kittel had a flat tire and it was unclear if he had managed to catch the peloton before the finish.
Provisional results showed he finished 162nd, three minutes down on Sagan. However the first set of official results issued at 5:52 p.m., indicated he had been given the same time as the riders involved in the crash two kilometres from the finish. That decision and the result was deemed to be correct only for it to be changed four hours later. Kittel is now 138th overall in the latest overall classification, some 4:14 back.
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Fifty-two riders were initially given the same time as stage winner Peter Sagan after being judged to have been delayed by the crash. The new results listed only 11 riders (of those initial 52) awarded the same time. These changes a ripple effect in the different classifications.
In a press release included with the corrected results, the UCI simply cited their rule book, without explaining how or why they changed the results.
"Following the crash inside the final three kilometres of the stage, all the riders that were in the peloton at the moment of the crash are credited with the same time of the winner: 4:06:37. (rule article 2.6.027)" the press release said.
