Visma-Lease a Bike's Tim van Dijk was relegated on Sunday after sprinting away from a nine-rider group contending for the three remaining top-10 places in Paris-Roubaix.
The Dutchman attacked around the group to the left, riding onto the apron of the Roubaix velodrome before sprinting away to eighth.
Under track cycling rules, riders are not allowed to cross the blue band, also known as the cote d'azur, that delineates the flat area between the infield and the racing section above.
However, Paris-Roubaix is run under the UCI road rules that do not include any regulations for racing on velodromes. Officials relegated Van Dijke instead for 'irregular sprinting' under article 2.12.007 part 5.1.
The decision dropped Van Dijke to 16th place, still a massive improvement from last year's 43rd place in his debut in Paris-Roubaix.
It is the second most severe punishment of the race after the jury disqualified Josh Tarling, fined him 500 CHF and docked him 100 UCI points for getting an egregious tow from the Ineos Grenadiers team car after he punctured. The jury report also includes a 500 CHF fine for Ineos directeur sportif Christian Knees.
Laurenz Rex (Intermarché-Wanty), who crashed twice, was fined for sheltering behind the team car after his first incident. He was fined 200 CHF and lost 15 UCI points while DS Steven De Neef was fined 500 CHF.
Bahrain Victorious DS Michal Golas received a 200 CHF fine for an unidentified rider under the rule barring riders from using sidewalks or paths that are not part of the course.
John Degenkolb (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) and Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) were fined 200 CHF for irregular feeding and their respective directors Pim Ligtmart and Andreas Klier 500 CHF.
Finally, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale's director Julien Jurdie was fined 500 CHF for not following the rules for the cars of the convoy.
None of the riders or staff for teams in Paris-Roubaix Femmes were fined or sanctioned for violating rules.
Tim van Dijke was relegated to 16th. Under @UCI_Track rules the apron/blue band ( Cote D'Azur) is out of bounds. It's used as a run-off area when entering and exiting the track. In this case, the Commissaires thought Tim was taking too many liberties with that rule. #ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/qJT9kIEzOqApril 8, 2024
Injury report
Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) crashed hard in the race and suffered injuries to his hip and head. His team announced that the Italian was examined in hospital no fractures were found.
"He will continue to be monitored by our medical team in the coming days," the team stated.
Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-EasyPost) injured his hand and wrist in a crash but his team announced he had also escaped any serious injuries.
"Jonas Rutsch suffered lacerations to two fingers and road rash in his crash at Paris-Roubaix but thankfully escaped any fractures. Wishing you a speedy recovery, Jonas," the team wrote on social media.
Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep), Hugo Hofstetter (Israel-Premier Tech), Rex and Clément Davy (Groupama-FDJ) were treated by the medics for road rash.
There were no injuries listed on the Paris-Roubaix Femmes communiqué.
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