Officials at the USA Cycling Amateur National Championships have disputed claims that rider Jon Crowson was fined over complaints he made via Twitter about conditions at the race in Truckee, California.
Chief official Bonnie Walker clarified to Cyclingnews that the $20 fine was for a curse word that Crowson levelled at a volunteer who refused to help shuttle riders to the finish, and the rule which was applied, 8A5(I) "Actions not specifically covered by the rules but bringing discredit upon the sport" was used rather than rule 8A5(b) which specifies unsportsmanlike conduct including foul or abusive language because the former is less severe.
"In this case, the suspension would have been at the discretion of the race jury, if I had chosen to use the foul language regulation," Walker said. "Given this occurred out on the race course, away from large crowds of spectators, I opted for a $20 fine. Since the rider DNFd the race there was no way to relegate or DQ."
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Walker also noted that the fine was imposed on Wednesday directly after the elite men's race, but Crowson's Twitter comments came later that evening. "The fine was issued long before the rider's comments on social media and NOT afterwards. I was not even aware of his comments until the conclusion of racing yesterday (Friday)."
Crowson speculated that he was fined for complaints he made on Twitter that there was no neutral feed, mechanical support, and insufficient resources to pick up dropped riders on the 167km out-and-back course from the Northstar resort.
USA Cycling's VP of events, Micah Rice, disputed Crowson's assertions that there was no neutral support. "While the weather conditions were very hot today, it was clearly stated in the tech guide that there was no neutral feed zone. And it was also clear in the tech guide that full neutral support was in place. We had two neutral support cars branded front and back with the words in 4 inch letters “Neutral Support” in his race, along with the team caravan cars," Rice stated.
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