Cofidis' Guillaume Martin thought he'd secured himself a fourth-placed finish at Gran Piemonte, the final warmup race for Il Lombardia. The race jury however has had different ideas.
The Frenchman headed into the finale of the day in a four-man lead group alongside eventual winner Andrea Bagioli, Marc Hirschi and Alex Aranburu. Knowing he didn't have the sprint to match his competitors, Martin tried to catch them by surprise with an early launch but ultimately it didn't work out and all three came around him before the line.
In a further disappointment for Martin, the Frenchman has now been disqualified, bumping Filippo Ganna who led home the chase behind into fourth position.
The reason for the DQ? "Using a non-compliant position on the bicycle," according to the race jury. Martin's punishment also includes a 500CHF fine and 15 points deducted from the UCI rankings.