Giro d'Italia 2022 - Watch shocking moment race leader Juan Pedro Lopez throws bottle at rival Sam Oomen

ByIbrahim Mustapha

Published 16/05/2022 at 11:00 GMT

The current maglia rosa ended Stage 9 still in charge of the race despite losing time on the fearsome Blockhaus mountain stage, however, there was a blot on his performance following an incident with Sam Oomen, in which the Spaniard threw a bottle at his rival. "He tried to push me and I lost my mind and threw a bottle at him," he said apologetically.

Giro d’Italia race leader Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) was involved in a shocking incident after throwing a bottle at a rival rider during Stage 9.

Jostling for position with Sam Oomen (Jumbo-Visma), a frustrated Lopez threw the bottle at his fellow rider in what he described as a "moment of tension".

Lopez’ actions were seemingly not spotted by the race commissaires but the Spaniard raised the incident himself in his post-race interview where he apologised to Oomen.

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“Before any questions, I want to say sorry to Sam Oomen because in one moment of tension, he tried to push me and I lost my mind and threw a bottle at him,” said an emotional Lopez.

“I want to say sorry.”

Heading into the second rest day, Lopez retains the lead of the General Classification after putting up a decent fight on the gruelling Blockhaus mountain stage despite losing time.

However, his post-race confession may ultimately get him in trouble as the incident may not have actually been spotted at the time.

• ‘I lost my mind’ – Lopez says sorry after throwing bottle at rival
• Carapaz? Bardet? Hindley? The contenders for ‘wide open’ Giro assessed

“This might be the first they hear of it. Maybe it wasn’t picked up on camera, maybe it wasn’t seen by a commissaire,” said Robbie McEwen on The Breakaway.

“He might have just dobbed himself in and got himself in trouble because no matter how it came about, he’s apologised and feels bad about it, the commissaires may say, ‘now we’re aware of it, rules are rules and we have to do something'.

“Within racing, that is quite a serious incident to the commissaires so we’ll see what they do with it.”

‘I lost my mind’ – Lopez admits he angrily threw a bottle at rival at Giro d’Italia

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