Up to 20 cyclists from the Tour of Flanders, including race winner Tadej Pogacar, could face action from Belgian authorities after running a red light at a railway crossing on Sunday night.
While the main peloton stopped as required, Pogacar and a bunch of chasers slipped across the tracks in pursuit of a leading group, despite the warning signals and the risk of an oncoming train.
Pogacar said he and several others were alerted to the red light too late.
“Suddenly, three guys jumped in the middle of the road and started waving to stop. How can you stop in one second,” he said.
Pogacar also said he at first thought he might be dealing with some kind of protest, which is common at bike races held on public roads.
“I was thinking maybe it’s some protesters or something crazy is going on.”
The East Flanders public prosecutor’s office announced it would pursue the riders for breaching road safety rules.
“The offenders will be identified and a report will be filed,” the local prosecutor’s office said.
Race organisers forced the group that went through to slow down and wait for the rest of the peloton to catch up once the train had passed, but the breakaway was allowed to keep racing and they stretched their lead by nearly two minutes in that period.
“The rule is a little bit weird. I don’t know why they don’t stop the breakaway, stop us and then restart normally like it should be. In the end, no complaints,” said Pogacar.
Belgian hero Remco Evenepoel, who finished third on the day, was also among the riders concerned.
The offence could land them in court and incur a fine, but race officials decided not to disqualify those involved in the incident.
The decision not to take any action has been widely questioned because of the rules mandated by cycling’s governing body.
Under UCI rules “riders are obliged to stop at a red light”. The rules go on to state: “Anyone who rides through the light must be removed from the race”.
Cycling commentators were staggered by the incident.
“Absolute chaos,” the AddBIKES account posted on X.
Sport Network TNT posted: “Chaos in Flanders”.
It was a record-equalling third Tour of Flanders win for Pogacar after dropping his main rival Mathieu van der Poel with 18km to ride.
Van der Poel was himself aiming for a new record fourth victory in the second Monument of the season, but instead, Pogacar made it two from two in the prestigious one-day classics having won Milan-San Remo last month.
Four-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, 27, now has 12 Monument victories, putting him clear in second on the all-time list behind only the great Eddy Merckx with 19.
He has raced three times this year, winning all three and if he wins Paris-Roubaix next weekend, he will join an elite band as just the fourth man to win all five Monuments after Merckx and fellow Belgians Rik Van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck.
“It was a really crazy race today, I don’t know what to say: super-hard from I don’t know which kilometre,” Pogacar told BelgianTV.
“I don’t race too much, so when I race there is pressure to win.
“So far everything went perfect for me, so I can be more than happy.
“Coming next week to Roubaix, I can go motivated, but I try to enjoy the cobbles.”
In the women’s race, European champion Demi Vollering made an identical move to Pogacar, dropping her rivals and crestingthe Oude Kwaremont with a 19-second lead over Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Puck Pieterse.
The Dutch rider would not be caught, coming home at the end of the 164km race with a 45-second gap to Ferrand-Prevot, who easily pipped Pietrse in the sprint for second.
It was the 2023 Tour de France Femmes winner’s third Monument victory having won Liege-Bastogne-Liege twice.
Record three-time winner Lotte Kopecky had to settle for fourth.
