Cyclist Kicked Out Of The Tour De France For Punching Opponent In The Face

This weekend’s Tour de France stages were relatively inert, as two Astana riders won from breakaways and the main general classification contenders opted to save their bullets for this week’s ramble through the Pyrenees. Riders have three punishing days in the mountains to look forward to this week, including a 65-km asskicker on Wednesday that more or less everyone in the peloton has pointed to as the most decisive stage in the entire race. We will finally get to see who’s really leading Team Sky, though they’ll be without one of their helpers, since he punched a dude.

Gianni Moscon was kicked out of the race yesterday after he tried to punch French rider Elie Gesbert in the face during the opening 800 meters of Stage 15. Team Sky released a short statement supporting the decision, and his teammates expressed their disappointment with Moscon.

This punching incident is not to be confused with the time Moscon got racist at the Tour de Romandie and was suspended six weeks, or the time he was accused of deliberately causing an opponent to crash, or the time he got kicked out of the World Championships for cheating.

In other news involving Team Sky and punches, French cops have arrested one of the assholes who tried to punch Chris Froome on the Alpe d’Huez, and team manager Dave Brailsford called out Tour organizers for not protecting his riders better. As for why the fans are so mad at his team, Brailsford chalked it up to “a French cultural thing.”