Stage 11 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana saw a major flash point, when Richard Carapaz ended up in a ditch as the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team attempted to barricade the road and stop any more riders going the established breakaway.
The fallout from incident is still being felt a few days later. Carapaz cited a lack of respect from Decathlon riders, claiming he's still yet to recieve an apology, as Red Jersey wearer Ben O'Connor insisted his team have nothing to apologise for, having not done anything wrong.
"I've been in that situation, you're at the front trying to block a road. You move your hand out. And I can imagine he will have whacked Carapaz's handlebars,” analyses former British national champion Adam Blythe on 'The Breakaway' for Eurosport. “But as Carapaz says, even if it wasn't intentional, you should still come and say sorry."
The UCI's handling of the situation has also left something to be desired in the minds of many though, with some unhappy by the governing bodies' trigger happiness when it comes to dishing out their new yellow cards.
“The UCI have just looked at the situation, gone 'there's a big kerfuffle around this, there's too much noise, we need to give a fine - pick one of the riders to give a fine to,'" Blythe says. "And the rider they picked, which is embarrassing for them, was on the other side of the road. The way the UCI have dealt with this is ridiculous."
On stage 13 this Friday afternoon, O'Connor, Carapaz, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team and EF Education-EasyPost will get the chance to go to war on the roads with a potentially decisive day in the high mountains. How much, if anything this ongoing drama has taken out of their mental reserves remains to be seen, but the situation has certainly added a little extra spice to the Red Jersey fight at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana.
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