Lars Boom’s chances of being named to LottoNL-Jumbo’s Tour de France squad took a big hit on Thursday when the Dutchman was disqualified from Stage 2 of the Tour of Norway after an altercation with Preben van Hecke of Sport Vlaanderen.

With 28 kilometers remaining in the race, Boom and van Hecke appeared to bump wheels before Boom shoved van Hecke away and took a swing. Race officials studied the footage after the race and decided that Boom’s actions warranted expulsion.

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“You cannot punch a competitor and particularly not in the face,” one official explained to Norwegian broadcaster TV2. “It’s not good for the reputation of cycling and he cannot take the law into his own hands. So we have taken the decision of taking him out of the race.”

In a postrace interview, Van Hecke told TV2 that Boom did not punch him in the face but rather hit him in the hip, adding, “Sometimes this happens in a race.”

Boom defended his actions saying, “He was on my wheel and I almost crashed, so I got a little hot-headed. I don’t want to crash, especially when an idiot does something like that.”

The incident marks the second time in the last year that Boom has gotten into an altercation during a Norwegian race. During Stage 2 of the 2017 Tour des Fjords, he pushed riders over the final two kilometers. Rider Boasson Hagen confronted Boom after the race and Hans De Clerq, the sports director for Sports Vlaandern-Baloise, lodged a formal complaint.

The 32-year-old Boom has now failed to finish any of his races thus far in 2018, as he attempts to come back from heart arrhythmia surgery in December. He did not start in Paris-Nice in March, and dropped out of the Tour of Romandie last month.