Originally Posted by cthenn

Actually, the rule is pretty straight forward. There is no mis-interpretation going on. It's black and white.

2.3.012
All riders may render each other such minor services as lending or exchanging food, drink, spanners or accessories.
The lending or exchanging of tubular tyres or bicycles and waiting for a rider who has been dropped or involved in an accident shall be permitted only amongst riders of the same team. The pushing of one rider by another shall in all cases be forbidden, on pain of disqualification.

So...riders can give each other bidons, food, etc, and furthermore there is nothing in there about colluding within the boundaries of racing. Colluding happens all the time, as witnessed just recently by Aru and Contador while trying to drop Uran. Breakaways amongst different teams is collusion by definition. So, there is really no argument that Porte should not have gotten a penalty, it's as clear as day in the rules.