Taylor Phinney apologises after being disqualified from Tour of Britain for railway crossing incident

Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac) was disqualified from the 2017 Tour of Britain on Monday after entering a railway level crossing during as the gates were closing during stage two of the race.

Phinney issued an apology directly after the stage, saying that he was sorry for the incident.

"So, I've been disqualified from the Tour of Britain for crossing a railway while the gates were coming down," Phinney wrote on Twitter.

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"I was alone in the caravan of team cars coming back from a mechanical with 40k to go. The peloton had already passed through moments before."

"I'd like to apologize to the race organization, the police and my team. It was a split second decision not to get left behind by the race."

"I'm bummed but have to respect the rules and the law. Thank you to all the fans for cheering for me the last 2 days! Sorry I can't continue."

The Tour of Britain race jury acted on UCI rules when eliminating Phinney.

UCI rules regarding the navigation of level crossings during races were revised for 2016 after an incident during the 2015 edition of Paris-Roubaix, when riders skipped a level crossing barrier during the race, causing French train operator SNCF to file a complaint with police.

UCI road racing regulation 2.3.034 states: "It shall be strictly forbidden to cross level crossings when the barrier is down or closing, the warning signal ringing or flashing. Apart from risking the penalty for such an offence as provided by law, offending riders shall be eliminated from the competition by the commissaires."

Phinney's incident was not the only one during stage two of the Tour of Britain that was considered by the race jury. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) was relegated from first place to 109th after the jury ruled he had deviated from his line in the final sprint.

Subsequently, Elia Viviani (Team Sky) was given the stage win and took the overall race lead.