Johannes Kulset (Uno-X) was disqualified from the Tour of Slovenia on Friday for repeatedly adopting the now-banned ‘super tuck’ descending position on his bike during stage 3 from Ljubljana to Nova Gorica.
Kulset could be seen using the riding position with his chest low on the bars and forward of the saddle in a video of one of the incidents.
The Norwegian was part of a 13-rider leading group in the final 10 kilometres of the 160.5km stage. Giovanni Aleotti (Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked from the same group to win the stage, while Kulset finished in the 12-man group, 11 seconds behind.
Kulset was tailed off just before a downhill section of the stair-step category 3 climb to Ravnica and again over the summit, both times using the banned position to rejoin the group and, after rejoining, while riding on the front in pursuit of Aleotti.
It should be noted that Aleotti also tried to adopt a more aerodynamic position on the descent but avoided disqualification by remaining on the saddle, a legal workaround of the UCI rule.
By making his way back to the group, Kulset moved into the top 10 of the general classification.
However, the race jury disqualified Kulset for the descending style which was banned as of April 1, 2021 as part of the UCI’s sweeping regulations to improve safety in road races.
