"In our view, Max sprinted safely" - Astana vent frustration after Kanter's stage 4 relegation at 2025 Giro d'Italia

Max Kanter thought he'd secured himself a very creditable 5th placed finish in the bunch sprint finale of stage 4 at the 2025 Giro d'Italia. Sadly for the German and the XDS Astana Team however, the race jury had other ideas.

Adjudged to have conducted an irregular sprint after some shoulder barging in the fight for position, Kanter not only lost his 5th placed finish thanks to a relegation, but was also given a 500 CHF fine and a 13-point deduction in the Maglia Ciclamino classification and a yellow card. A slightly controversial decision, if the online reaction is anything to go by. And for the XDS Astana Team, there is some understandable frustration. "The team respects the authority of the jury but disagrees with this decision," notes a press release on the team's official website.

“We find this decision very unfortunate. In our view, Max sprinted safely and in line with the actions of other riders in the group," adds Lead Sports Director of XDS Astana Team Alexandr Shefer. "Relegation and a yellow card is way too much. If we begin to penalize such moments, then we also need to start evaluating rider behaviour not only in the final meters but throughout the last 10 or 5 kilometres. Today this happened to our team, tomorrow it could be any other. It’s disappointing news for us”