UCI points penalization for Pogacar and sticky bottle for Evenepoel - How the Tour of Flanders jury fined its two stars

Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel may both get heavily fined due to the train line crossing that marked the 2026 Tour of Flanders. However, that is not yet confirmed, and a topic for a wide discussion. But in the hours following the race, 'De Ronde's jury did officially penalize the two men for two separate incidents that happened during the race.

These are two completely different situations. In the first, Pogacar and Evenepoel are only amongst the several dozen riders who crossed a red light during the race in a train crosswing, which split the peloton in half. This may lead to a fine of up to €4000 and even a temporary driver's license prohibition.

But this incident, which also sparked criticism from the UCI and a debate on social media which spread like wildfire, is one that doesn't yet have official consequences. What did have are those that two of the race's headliners did later in the race.

By the time the race's official report came out late in the afternoon, two riders stuck out in the race commissaries' decisions page. These were none other than the first and third placed in the race.

Tadej Pogacar was fined 500 Swiss Francs and also penalized 25 UCI points for littering outside of a waste zone. Whilst this isn't an unusual decision from the race juries, it is more often applied to the riders out front who have more TV time and are more easily caught.

However Remco Evenepoel's fine has a different reason: A sticky bottle. The Olympic Champion reportedly grabbed onto the team DS when being given a bottle for too long and the race commissaires did not let that go unnoticed. He was fined 250 Swiss Francs whilst DS Sven Vanthourenhout in the car was fined an extra 500.