Tour de France 2025: Should you change your sprint after a yellow card?

Bryan Coquard and three other riders involved in the sprints (Van Poppel, Theuns, and Ballerini) were yellow-carded during Monday's third stage. A handicap to be taken into account by some, and set aside by others.
Of course, the football metaphor is quickly found: "It's like a referee giving a yellow card to a defender after five minutes, except that, for us, it lasts three weeks," imagines Cofidis sporting director Thierry Marichal, returning to the sanction inflicted on Bryan Coquard when he brought down Jasper Philipsen on Monday.
The rule, established by the International Cycling Union since the beginning of the year, is clear: a second card and it's disqualification (and a seven-day suspension). "Of course you have to change your game, be careful," says Cédric Vasseur, manager of the northern team, referring to the difficulty for a sprinter living "with the anxiety of changing trajectory, of touching another rider, when that's part of the job."
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Should you change your approach to sprinting after a penalty? "No, you can't sprint with that in mind," says Mark Renshaw, former pilot for Mark Cavendish and sporting director at Astana. "You have no choice but to give 100%. Sometimes situations arise, but you can't race with the fear of being sent off. That's when it becomes dangerous."
"A sprint necessarily means taking risks," adds Thor Hushovd, manager of Uno-X and two-time Green Jersey winner of the Tour (10 stages). "A good sprinter knows that you have to give it your all, that there's no choice but to use your shoulders, your body, but that there are limits. Once again, a good sprinter, even if he has a yellow card, doesn't have to take fewer risks, just do his sprint."
More generally, the carding system raises questions. Renshaw denounces "the lack of consistency in the rules," in addition to the lack of explanations. Warned in June at the Critérium du Dauphiné, Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ) believes that "it is difficult to blame someone; a fall is rarely one person's fault. Especially in a sprint at 60-70 km/h with the waves, the centrifugal force... Lots of things that are difficult to analyze in slow motion."
Renshaw is campaigning for the creation of a "panel of three former sprinters who have recently competed in high-level sprints and understand how it works to best judge any potential faults." And Hushovd approves.
Le Dauphiné libéré