In non drafting races the punishment for drafting/blocking with black cards is replaced by yellow cards (penalty box/penalty run).
The athlete who commits a small violation (helmet not properly closed, wrong use of number, …) receives a yellow card with stop&go (the official whistles, shows the yellow card, calls the number of the athlete and ‘STOP’ stop&go). An athlete can receive an unlimited number of this penalty.
An athlete who drafts behind (drafting zone= 10m long by 3 meters wide) or blocks another athlete, receives a yellow card with a time punishment (the official whistles, shows the yellow card, calls the number of the athlete and ‘PENALTY LAP’, the athlete reports him/herself at the penalty lap at the transition area for his/her time punishment).
With a long distance competition, during the bike section, a triathlete has 20 seconds to catch and pass another athlete. Once passed, the second triathlete has 5 seconds to restore him/herself to a distance of 10 meters behind the faster tiathlete (measured from front wheel to front wheel).
With long distance competitions an athlete is disqualified when a third yellow card for drafting/blocking.
Athletes have to know in advance the course en have to follow the predescribed course during the race.
A new overview of violations & punishments can be found in the annex of the ITU competition rules & ‘BTDF Sportreglementen’.
When prospecting the course, the athletes also have to wear their helmet properly.
An athlete cannot do the run section of the race with their helmet on or barefoot.