Cycling's world governing body on Monday opened disciplinary proceedings against Team Arkea-Samsic's Nacer Bouhanni for shoving Groupama–FDJ's Jake Stewart into the barriers in the sprint finish at Cholet–Pays de la Loire race in France.
Bouhanni was disqualified from Sunday's race by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) commissaires' panel based on TV images.
"The UCI has decided to refer the incident to its Disciplinary Commission and demand the imposition of sanctions that are appropriate to the seriousness of this action," the UCI said in a statement.
British rider Stewart managed to stay upright and crossed the line in 29th place before criticising Bouhanni's conduct on social media.
"Yo @BouhanniNacer I would ask you what you was thinking... but you clearly have no brain cells," Stewart wrote on Twitter https://twitter.com/jakey_stewart/status/1376221314021789700, including a clip of the incident.
"The ironic thing is you told me I had 'no respect' after the finish. Here's an educational video of what 'no respect' looks like."
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
