Giulio Ciccone, the winner of the opening stage of the Tour of the Alps, used his usual style for the celebration, throwing his sunglasses to the spectators. However, under the new rules, this action is not permitted and resulted in a 250 Swiss franc fine and a loss of 15 UCI points for the Lidl-Trek cyclist.
This caused an outcry on social media from fans and other cyclists. "I didn't think about it. I don't want to say it's stupid, but it's hard to say because the rules change every year. My mistake is that I hadn't familiarized myself with the rule updates. I won't do it again," Ciccone promised.
Ciccone's rule violation falls under UCI rule 8.3: "Discarding of litter or other objects by a rider or team staff outside of designated litter zones or failure to return them to the team or organizers, failure of team staff to collect objects, throwing objects towards a spectator. Careless or dangerous discarding of litter or other objects (e.g., a bottle or other object remains on the road or bounces back onto the road, is thrown directly or with excessive force towards a spectator, causing a dangerous maneuver by another rider or vehicle, forcing a spectator to step onto the road)."
Winner of the 1st stage of the Tour of the Alps, Giulio Ciccone was penalized for "negligently" throwing his glasses, his signature celebration. The Italian lost 15 UCI points (vs 20 for his victory) and received a fine of 250CHF. #TotApic.twitter.com/IrlcjHugZe
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) April 21, 2025
