Australians Richie Porte and Simon Clarke have both been given a two-minute penalty and fined 200,000 Swiss francs after Clarke gave Porte his front wheel during the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia.
Team Sky man Porte, challenging for the general classification, suffered a puncture during the final 10 kilometres of Tuesday's stage.
His compatriot Clarke, of Orica-GreenEDGE, came to his rescue, handing over his front wheel to allow Porte to rejoin the pack.
Porte ended up losing 47 seconds to leader Alberto Contador, and his day was made worse with the confirmation that both he and Clarke had been penalised a further two minutes.
Clarke said after the race he was just trying to help out a friend, while the stage itself was won by Bardiani-CSF's Nicola Boem.
"It just goes to show you that you can either live by the letter of the law or the spirit of the law," Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford told Cycling News.
"Most people would accept that that was one of the most interesting, instinctive moments of fair play we have seen in sport for a long time, particularly in our sport, which has been a bit blighted by issues of unfair play.
"It's a shame that people can’t see the sense of it. Most people will watch that and most people will think that, actually, it's a fair gesture, he didn't gain any unfair advantage.
"We will keep fighting and hope we don't get another puncture and just take it on the chin, I guess. Ultimately we live to fight another day. But I think we will sleep on it and see what happens tomorrow."