Twitter reacts to Richie Porte's Giro d'Italia time penalty

Twitter reacts to Richie Porte being given a two minute time penalty after swapping wheels with Orica-GreenEdge rider Simon Clarke on stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia

Photo: Graham Watson

Richie Porte's (Team Sky) Giro d'Italia hopes took a setback in the closing kilometres of stage 10 when a puncture caused him to be left behind by the peloton.

Despite the efforts of his teammates he crossed the line 47 seconds in arrears to pink jersey wearer Alberto Contador, falling to fourth overall at 1m09s.

However, this wasn't the whole story: it later transpired that it was fellow Australian Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) who had given Porte his wheel to get him back in contention.

At first, this was seen simply as a great stroke of sportsmanship with the Giro tweeting its approval:

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But the social media mood later changed when news broke that both Porte and Clarke had been given a two minute time penalty for 'non-regulation assistance'.

David Millar wasn't backward in coming forward with his take on the situation:

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Cannondale-Garmin's team manager Jonathan Vaughters was a bit more vague, but seemingly just as miffed:

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Oldest Grand Tour winner Chris Horner shared his thoughts:

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Doctor Hutch speculated about where Leopold Konig might be sleeping tonight after the penalty took Porte below him on GC:

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Whereas others looked beyond the black and white of the rulebook, to discuss the actual impact of the assistance given:

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Chris Boardman added his two penneth:

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While Neal Rogers had a devilish idea as to how Porte could get the time back:

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Tom Dumoulin summed up it all up quite well:

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What do you think about it?

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Jack Elton-Walters hails from the Isle of Wight, and would be quick to tell anyone that it's his favourite place to ride. He has covered a varied range of topics for Cycling Weekly, producing articles focusing on tech, professional racing and cycling culture. He moved on to work for Cyclist Magazine in 2017 where he stayed for four years until going freelance. He now returns to Cycling Weekly from time-to-time to cover racing, review cycling gear and write longer features for print and online.