Enrico Zanoncello disqualified from Giro d'Italia after headbutting rival

Italian rider Enrico Zanoncello has been kicked out of this year's Giro d'Italia after landing an audacious headbutt on a rival in a controversial finale in Milan.

Zanoncello (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber) was pictured leaning into Jayco-AlUla's Bob Donaldson in the peloton, before lashing his head towards the British rider.

The incident caused a bewildered Donaldson to crash heavily, his bike thrown up behind him as he fell, although nobody else was affected.

The race jury was not impressed by the Italian's actions, handing him a fine of 1,000 Swiss Francs ($1,785), a points deduction and disqualifying him from the race.

That incident was only the start of what was a controversial finish in Milan, with timings neutralised before the finale after several riders raised concerns over safety.

Stage 15 of this year's race was all set up for a sprint finish following a flat, 157km route from Voghera into Milan, where the peloton would complete four laps of a 16.3km circuit around Milan.

The high pace attested to that, at 51.063 km/h it was the second-fastest road stage in Giro history, ideal for the sprint teams.

However, once the riders got onto the circuit it became clear they were not happy.

Belgian veteran Victor Campenaerts was first to raise his objections, approaching the race commissioner's car just as Enric Mas crashed, Campenaerts gesturing frantically at the stricken rider.

Then, his Visma | Lease a Bike teammate, race leader Jonas Vingegaard was seen to drop back to the race commissioner's car, where he engaged in a lively discussion with officials alongside Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek).

The race jury accepted their concerns, saying that the times for general classification would be taken at the start of the final lap.

"I think I spent more time at the red [commissioner's] car than at my own team car," Vingegaard said in an interview with CyclingPro.net.

"I think we all as riders felt that today's circuit was not the safest. I talked to a lot of riders, and we agreed we had to try something.

"In general, the road was not in its best condition. There were a lot of holes in the road, constantly.

"There was not a moment where I felt safe enough to grab a bidon or take a gel.

"There were a lot of tram rails, and it was very bumpy going over them.

"In general, we as a peloton felt that they could have done better, but it's good that they listened to us."

Vingegaard retains his 2 minutes, 26 seconds advantage in general classification ahead of Afonso Eulálio, with Felix Gall (at 2:50), Thymen Arensman (3:03) and Jai Hindley (3:43) making up the rest of the top five.

Hindley's fellow Aussies Michael Storer (seventh at 4:46) and Ben O'Connor (eighth at 5:22) both remain in the top 10 overall.

'Bulls***' called as sprinters claim motorbikes paced the breakaway

With the general classification concerns squared away, there was still the subject of the stage victory, where there was yet more controversy as Norway's Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) stunned the sprinters to win from the breakaway.

Dversnes was part of a four-man breakaway that went away at the 5th-kilometre mark of the stage in what most assumed was a doomed attempt at snatching some bonus points at the intermediate sprints.

The four riders, Dversnes alongside Mattia Bais, Mirco Maestri (both Polti VisitMalta) and Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber), held a 2-minute advantage once the race arrived in Milan, which shrivelled to just 55 seconds by the final lap.

However, despite the sprint teams flooding to the front and burning plenty of matches to close them down, the breakaway maintained their advantage all the way home.

"Good question, actually," Dversnes said when asked how the breakaway stayed away for the whole day.

"Super good help from the other guys in the breakaway. The Italian from Bardiani and the Polti guys, they were really strong today.

"I knew I had some good opportunities, because I'm pretty good at going in breakaways, so this was my big shot.

"It was a hopeless plan at the start, but it grew the further we got. You always think about it on the way, but when we still had 2 minutes pretty late in the race, you start believing.

"But you have to think about what to do and what's important — not think about what can happen."

His rivals were not so sure the fairytale story was appropriate.

Elmar Reinders of Unibet Rose Rockets said that "everyone has an explanation" on how the breakaway survived, "but maybe not one meant for TV," he added in an interview with Domestique Cycling.

He then made his accusations clear: "There was a very good motorbike up there."

"We burned through 30 riders and still couldn't do it. It's hard to believe," he said.

"Everyone burned through their entire lead-out. Everyone helped."

Tim Torn Teutenberg of Lidl-Trek was just as livid with the organisers.

"Everyone who understands cycling knows that it was a bit of a joke today," he told IDL ProCycling.

"I don't know what the mission of the organisers was. They wanted to show how cars and motorbikes can influence a race. This was bullshit."

Dversnes shot down those accusations though: "There were actually four very strong motorbikes inside the breakaway."

Tomorrow riders have a rest day, before a snappy 113km stage from Bellinzona to Carì.

The final 12km is all uphill, the last 3km of which averages around 8 per cent with a maximum gradient of 13 per cent in the final kilometre.