Ben O'Connor deletes X account after outrage against jury's decision to hand out yellow cards to three of his teammates
Cycling
Three of red jersey Ben O'Connor's Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team mates received a yellow card after Wednesday's stage 11 of Vuelta a Espana. Why? It's not rare to see GC teams 'blocking' the road to prevent more riders from joining breakaways. But when one of Ben O'Connor's teammates caused Richard Carapaz to crash, the jury had seen enough and distributed not one, but three yellow warnings.
UPDATE: Ben O'Connor deleted his X account along with all posts shortly afterwards...
O'Connor shared his upset over this decision in an X post. "Dear UCI, What kind of dangerous move do you think my teammates Bouchard, Lafay, and Armirail that merited a yellow card? The road was blocked by us, like in every race after the breakaway leaves. We never tried to cause a crash, and never pushed someone off the road."
The Australian refuses for his team to bear any responsibility for Carapaz's subsequent crash, who accordingly attempted to pass the French team's blockade through gravel by the side of the road. Yet there is enough footage evidence that shows O'Connor's teammate deviate to close the left side of the road and force the Ecuadorian rider out of bounds.
And as one popular cycling Twitter account La Flamme Rouge points out, even the act of "obstruction by a rider or vehicle in order to prevent or delay the movement of another rider or vehicle" is fobidden by UCI rules, with fine up to 500 CHF, classification penalisations and newly the yellow cards on top.
Finally, O'Connor is angered by the jury's inconsistent decision making. "The yellow card is supposed to be implemented for dangerous riding. For example, if we are lined up at the front of the peloton, and a rider rides in the gravel off the road to get past, is this not causing danger?"
However, objectively speaking, there's not really much to say to add to his defense. If O'Connor rewatches the footage in a couple days, he'll likely come to an agreement with the decision that his team's actions indeed checked out all the boxes to rightfully receive a warning.
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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A small reminder: obstructing another rider to prevent their movement is a violation of UCI rules. While teams may want to control a breakaway, road blocking is against the rules, even if often tolerated. It also gives a poor impression to the public. #LaVuelta24
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