Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) has become the latest in a long list of riders to incur the wrath of the race commissaires and find himself booted off a Grand Tour mid-race.

Nibali was towed by a team car on stage two of this year’s Vuelta a Espana as he desperately tried to chase back to the peloton after crashing with 30km remaining, and was caught on TV cameras doing so.

And while doping in cycling means ‘DSQ’ is an all-too-common sight in Grand Tour results sheet, Nibali is nowhere near the first rider to have been sent home for entirely different reasons.

As a multiple Grand Tour champion, too, Nibali’s disqualification shows even the best riders can find themselves packing their bags early.

So as the Shark of Messinah prepares to return home, finishing the season without a Grand Tour podium place for the first time since 2009, we’ve rounded up some of the other riders to have been disqualified mid-race for reasons entirely unrelated to doping.