The Tour de France women were issued their first UCI yellow card for dangerous riding due to the actions of Barbara Guarischi (SD Works-Protime) in the sprint win on stage 2.

The Italian lead-out specialist's punishment, revealed in an official communiqué after the race, was for “inappropriate behavior that endangers others in the final sprint” according to UCI Rule 2.12.007.8.2-1.

SD Walks Pro Time confirmed that Guariski was yellow-carded when he stopped pedaling and removed his hands from the bars after completing the lead-out to Lorena Wiebes; the UCI Commissaires deemed this move dangerous.

“After Barbara pulled the sprint for Lorena Vives, she stopped her bike and started cheering for Lorena on the microphone. ‘7]

’I think when someone is standing still in a group and a rider comes from behind at speed, it creates a dangerous moment.” [

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Although he ultimately acknowledged that the new yellow card rule would be applied in this way, Stamm suggested that such a move is not uncommon in sprinting, and that lead-out riders tend to drop back through the peloton after finishing their efforts.

“I mean, it's everywhere, Stamm said.

“It's the same in every sprint, but if this is the point of a yellow card, OK.”

Amid the chaos of Tuesday's double stage race day, SD Walks Pro Time was initially baffled by the decision, as there was little initial communication from the UCI judges.

“Nobody knows. We don't know, we have no clue,” sport director Anna van der Breggen told Cycling News and Velo in an interview after the third stage.

“If you make a mistake, you need to know about it. Because if you make a mistake, you need to know about it, so you can improve.

Van der Breggen spoke with Guariski after the stage, and she was equally stunned. Upon closer inspection of her behavior in the finals, the Italian yelled at Weaves after she completed the lead-out. She then took one hand off the wheel and shouted more words of encouragement over the radio.

“We asked Barabara herself, ‘Did you do something that you think is marginal,’ but she doesn't know. She says she does and she wants to know,” van der Breggen said.

While Stam and the team learned of the incident, he confirmed only that “she was upset about it.”

The yellow card in cycling is a new system currently being piloted by the UCI, inspired by soccer, and its use is being tested until December 31, 2024.

After this period, its use will be evaluated by SafeR, a safety initiative project launched partially last year by the UCI and key stakeholders in cycling to improve safety in men's and women's races, which is expected to be fully functional from January 1, 2025. It is expected to be fully functional from January 1, 2025.

For the time being, “yellow cards represent a sanction but are not physically present,” and the accumulation of yellow cards will not lead to further penalties such as race disqualification or suspension, which is the goal of the system going forward.

The initiative is designed to monitor all misdeeds of the peloton and those in the racing ranks, with riders, sport directors, journalists, and motorcycle drivers subject to sanctions.

The UCI has also mapped 21 incidents that can lead to yellow cards in article 2.12.007, alongside sanctions already in place, such as fines, point deductions, and ejection.

After a 5-month trial period SafeR evaluation, as presented by the UCI in June, accumulating multiple yellow cards could result in varying degrees of disciplinary action:

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