The UCI has handed out a fine of 200 Swiss Francs to Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) after the French rider stopped to embrace his wife and celebrate with his fans on home roads during stage 7 of the Tour de France.
Bernard enjoyed a “dream moment” on the uphill part of the time trial course which was half an hour from his home, with friends and family lining every inch of the roads cheering ‘Julien!’ and holding signs that said ‘Allez JB’ as he came past.
“I was really looking forward to this day. I knew my wife and my friends did something on the climb,” said Bernard.
“I started quite fast in the TT, and then I wanted to enjoy every second on this climb with, as you see, my friends and all my family. It was was a dream moment for me.”
But the jubilation was apparently too much for cycling’s governing body, who punished the Frenchman after the stage for "unseemly or inappropriate behaviour during the race and damage to the image of the sport", according to the jury’s report.
This was the same rule cited for Davide Ballerini’s fine on stage 5 after he stopped on the roadside to watch teammate Mark Cavendish sprint to a historic victory.
Repetitions of Bernard's initials lined the roads as he raced to 61st on the day, pushing hard on the opening section to ensure he could have the moment to stop with his family.
“I pushed decent power at the start to have the time to enjoy this climb. I want to say I would go quite conservative on the TT, but today I decided to push more at the start and then, I could have the time on the top,” said Bernard at the finish.
“In the end, I saw I was not so far behind. So it was OK. A perfect day for me.”
A day so perfect, that Bernard was willing to do it exactly the same despite the UCI assessing that he was in need of a fine for such a heartwarming moment.
“Sorry, but what was that? I love you so much,” said Bernard in an initial tweet, before responding sarcastically to the governing body. “And sorry UCI Cycling for having damaged the image of Sport. But I am willing to pay 200CHF every day and relive this moment.”
Lidl-Trek teammate Toms Skujins responded to the incident as well with similar confusion, simply with a screenshot of the fine along with the words “UCI doing UCI things”.
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