The organisers of the Giro d’Italia have made an unusual plea to riders, reminding them that it is “strictly prohibited” to urinate in bottles and toss them to the roadside.
The message came at the bottom of the jury report following Sunday’s ninth stage, which was won by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in Corno alle Scale.
Simply titled ‘statement’, it read: “To respect the image of cycling and the Giro d’Italia, the Organiser and the Commissaires’ Panel inform all riders that urinating into a bottle and subsequently discarding it is strictly prohibited.”
UCI rule 8.6 prohibits riders from “unseemly or inappropriate behaviour (in particular undressing or urinating in public at the start or finish or during the race) and damage to the image of the sport”. This offence carries a fine of 200 CHF to 500 CHF (£475 / $637) in a WorldTour race like the Giro d’Italia.
There is no specific rule relating to urinating in a bottle and discarding it. On disposing of bottles, the UCI rulebook says: “The rider must safely and exclusively deposit their waste on the sides of the road in the litter zones provided by the organiser. The rider may not jettison anything on the roadway itself. The rider may also dispose of bottles and clothing to team cars or organisation vehicles or with the team staff in charge of riders’ feeding.”
If a rider is deemed to have disposed of waste “in a careless or dangerous manner”, they can receive a fine of 500 CHF and a penalty of 25 UCI points. As examples of what constitutes this behaviour, the UCI lists: “bottle or other object remaining or bouncing back on the road, thrown directly or with excessive force at spectator, causing dangerous manoeuvre by other rider or vehicle, causing spectator to move onto the road.”
