5 minutes de pénalité
La rumeur courait dans le paddock à Whistler et bien cela s’est confirmée officiellement…
Fabien Barel a été sanctionné aujourd’hui de 5 minutes de pénalité (à ajouter à son futur temps du week-end) pour avoir enfreint le règlement en effectuant hier durant les recos certaines liaisons de l’EWS de Whistler à l’aide de navettes motorisées. Selon les manches Enduro World Series, le règlement concernant les recos est différent. Ici à Whistler les reconnaissances/liaisons doivent se faire à vélo et/ou en télésiège lorsque c’est prévu, les navettes motorisées sont interdites…
Cette règle a été rappelée lors du briefing officiel jeudi matin. Pour sa défense, Fabien Barel n’y était pas. Maintenant que l’on soit pro ou amateur, nul n’est censé ignorer le règlement local et s’il y a eu faute délibérée ou non, il doit y avoir sanction.
Voici le communiqué en anglais :
Based on all of the evidence available and following both Fabien and his team’s cooperation, the Chief Of Course has assigned Fabien a 5 minute penalty that will be attached to his overall time in tomorrow’s event,” says Crankworx General Manager and EWS Board Member Darren Kinnaird. “The EWS and Crankworx have worked tirelessly to ensure that we establish an ethos of fairness, mutual respect and equality between all competitors. Because of this, it is critical that we are diligent about enforcing our rules as effectively as we can. We would like to remind all athletes and teams to attend rider briefings and obey Crankworx Outside Assistance Regulations.
Voici les explications de Chris Ball :
Following a number of requests for information surrounding the five minute penalty issued to Fabien Barel in Crankworx Whistler we would like to clarify the situation. To avoid riders gaining an unfair advantage and to maintain the spirit of the race on the long liaison stages in the Whistler valley, Crankworx created a rule that outlined no outside assistance (including using a vehicle to assist) would be allowed during the event. This rule was further explained and clarified in a mandatory athlete’s breakfast scheduled on Friday morning and hosted by the Crankworx Whistler organisers. Rider’s who chose not to attend this briefing missed crucial information regarding course changes, details of shuttling and race specific information. We are not responsible for educating riders who choose to miss planned briefings. Following the submission of evidence by a number of sources and a discussion with Fabien where he cooperated fully, admitted to a lack of knowledge of the rule due to team communications and an admission of his use of a vehicle, the organisation chose to apply a five minute penalty to his race time, removing any advantage that may have been gained from his use of the vehicle. We are all now looking forward to an incredible race here tomorrow.
