A mistake by Rabobank sports director Erik Dekker, when he pulled alongside his rider Lars Boom in the opening time trial of the Tour of Beijing, cost the rider a twenty second penalty. Dekker, in the following team car, pulled up to Boom as he rode around the 11.3km course to offer encouragement. With all riders racing on road bikes, to save on the cost of transporting equipment to China from Europe, the incident had the appearance of a team director advising his rider in a road stage breakaway.
International Cycling Union (UCI) rule 2.4.023 though, states that: “The following vehicle shall follow at least 10 metres behind the rider, shall never overtake him nor draw up level with him.” Making Dekker’s action illegal, meaning that Boom was liable for a penalty.
"The speaker was blown from the hood and the windshield was broken,” Dekker explained afterwards. “Lars wanted to hear some noise, and I made a mistake by driving next to him, which I shouldn’t have done.
“My mistake, he added. “Stupid.”
Unfortunately for Boom, the mistake has undone a very strong performance. The former Dutch time trial champion, who has won the prologues of the Tour of Qatar and the Critérium du Dauphiné this season, as well as the recent Tour of Britain, finished the stage in sixth place, just 36 seconds behind the flying World champion Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad). The penalty means that he slips to thirty-third place, and is now 56 seconds behind.
With the majority of the race’s four remaining stages likely to finish in bunch sprints there will be few opportunities to take back much time; the mistake could well have cost Boom the chance to win the race.
"It's Balls," said Boom, according to De Telegraaf. "There are still important WorldTour points to win here. I had thought about getting a good overall ranking, but I can now put that out of my head."