Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Gianluca Brambilla and Tinkoff-Saxo's Ivan Rovny have been disqualified from the Vuelta a Espana for fighting during stage 16.
The pair were both in the day's 13-man breakaway, but began exchanging punches just under 40km from the finish at La Farrapona.
It is not clear what prompted the fight.
"I dont think that Brambilla should be disqualified from #LaVuelta , it is too much. Penalty would be enough, pity and sorry," Tinkoff-Saxo owner Oleg Tinkov tweeted prior to Rovny's disqualification.
The stage was won by Rovny's teammate, and overall race leader, Alberto Contador.
