Egan Bernal was fined 500 Swiss francs and 25 UCI points for littering outside the designated trash collection zone on stage 3 of the Tour de France.

Ineos riders will have one minute deducted from their overall ranking for a second offense, and Bernal will be banned from the Tour for a third littering offense.

Bernal was one of three riders sanctioned by the commissaires for the third stage to Bayonne, with Ramon Schinkeldam (Alpecin-Desseuninck) and Chris Harper (Jayco Arla) also receiving fines and UCI point deductions for the same offense.

The UCI will introduce stricter rules on littering in the spring of 2021, and that year's Tour of Flanders made headlines when Michal Scheer was excluded for throwing a trash can outside the designated zone.

Meanwhile, at the 2021 Giro d'Italia, Joao Almeida successfully appealed his penalty for the first littering violation, claiming he had the wrong person.

Since the rules were tightened, no rider has been banned from a Grand Tour for littering.

Bernal is currently in 18th place overall, 43 seconds behind yellow jersey winner Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). He lost time on the first stage to Bilbao after missing an important move, but finished the next day's stage to San Sebastian in the lead group.

The 2019 Tour winner returned to racing this year for the first time since retiring injured from the 2020 event, which was postponed by a pandemic. Bernal's 2022 season was ruined by injuries sustained in a life-threatening training crash, and earlier this campaign he suffered a knee injury suffered at the Vuelta a San Juan.