Vincenzo Nibali’s disqualification was called a ‘severe penalty’ by his Astana team, but the Shark had no case to answer after TV cameras caught him grabbing a tow from the team car.

With his Vuelta a Espana hopes taking a hit – literally, as he crashed with 30km of stage two remaining – Nibali’s desperation to get back to the bunch proved too much.

After burning out his team-mates, the team car – driven by Alexander Sheffer – pulled up alongside him and the two were soon rapidly accelerating up the road.

And the chase, ultimately, did not do Nibali any good anyway as he finished almost 90 seconds back on the stage.

After race commissaires met to discuss his little manoeuvre, however, his finishing time became a moot point as ‘DSQ’ was stamped by his name instead, adding him to a long list of riders to have suffered the same fate.