Four crashes spoil sprinters’ hopes in ‘actually harmful remaining’ of Classic Brugge-De Panne

The Classic Brugge-De Panne was disrupted by a stunning sequence of crashes inside the ultimate 5 kilometres, injuring quite a few riders together with pre-race favorite, European champion Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep).

Merlier’s workforce blamed the wrecks on the shortage of wind to interrupt up a peloton crammed with the game’s prime sprinters and almost each workforce within the combat along with slim, twisting roads earlier than the end line in De Panne.

Second-placed Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) survived to complete millimetres behind winner Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates), describing the end: “The parcours was fairly harmful with this run-in to the ultimate kilometre – from three strains it was going in a single, then this proper flip, after which this twisty bit a couple of hundred meters to go. This makes the whole lot a bit nervous and harmful as a result of, after all, everybody needs to remain within the entrance – everybody needs to win.”

Sports director for Soudal-Quickstep Iljo Keisse, a former rider, blamed the shortage of wind for not breaking apart the peloton earlier than the end.

“It would have been higher with wind in De Moeren, then the whole lot would have been damaged up there,” Keisse stated in keeping with Sporza.be. “Then you additionally dash with a smaller group. But a peloton dash with this group? You knew that will go unsuitable.”

The first crash got here simply exterior 5km to go when the course turned left off a three-lane street onto a one-lane street whereas the peloton was in full flight in pursuit of the breakaway. Lindsay De Vylder (Flanders Baloise) seemed to be the worst affected, with a bloodied face.

The second got here when three Intermarché-Wanty riders crashed on a straightaway. Then, as riders have been attempting to maneuver up on the trail alongside the roadway, one rider from Cofidis dropped again onto the tarmac, touching wheels with the rider forward of him and fell, taking down a slew of riders, together with Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).

All you heard was ‘crash, crash, crash’

It was the ultimate crash that ruined Tim Merlier’s race, and it got here because the race was coming into a narrowing of the roadway and riders ran into one another, inflicting a crash that ricocheted by means of the bunch and into Merlier, who was attempting to keep away from the chaos.

“All you heard on the race radio was crash, crash, crash and extra crash,” Keisse stated. “He tried to maneuver up as a result of he was a bit out of place. And then all of it occurred in a short time, however he flew very far.

“He instantly requested for the physician on the radio, and that’s by no means signal. We put him within the automobile, and he’s now within the bus with the physician for first assist.”

Merlier suffered a deep wound to his knee and could possibly be out of Gent-Wevelgem this weekend.

Keisse knew to warn the riders in regards to the harmful finale, however there have not been many severe incidents within the race in recent times as a result of the wind normally splits up the peloton.

“This morning throughout the assembly, I stated: ‘It is so harmful that normally nothing occurs’. In current years, miraculously, issues have at all times gone very effectively, and immediately, it went horribly unsuitable.

“Four crashes in 2.5 km is a bit an excessive amount of… For a race of this stage, the sprinters’ traditional, it’s a little bit of an unacceptable finale.”

Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) made it by means of unscathed however nonetheless urged organisers to look at the course extra carefully. “The remaining is harmful, and they need to have a look at this,” Welsford stated to Sporza. “I do know it is a race with historical past, and I find it irresistible, however there must be one thing that may be modified on the course.”

Alpecin-Deceuninck lead-out man Jonas Rickaert misplaced his sprinter Jasper Philipsen to heavy braking due to one of many crashes.

“When you go to the final 800 meters with 60 pretty recent males and it turns into one automobile vast, then you recognize it is going to be tremendous hectic,” Rickaert stated.

“Everyone needs to drop their sprinter off there, and that makes it tremendous harmful. With echelons, you get a special story, however perhaps they need to search for a greater and safer choice. You noticed immediately that it’s actually harmful.”

Organiser vows to look at route

Bruno Dequeecker, the organiser of the Classic Brugge-De Panne was in dismay on the chaos, telling Sporza, “This hurts my coronary heart. The peloton has accomplished the course thrice earlier than the end, however within the remaining kilometres, crashes like this occur… It hurts.

“We must sit down with the riders to see how it may be made safer.

“The course has been unchanged for years and is managed by the UCI. So, that is an unlucky coincidence. The riders clearly all needed to offer the whole lot to win, sadly, that led to accidents.”

Dequeecker plans to look into adjustments to make the end protected. “We must consider that narrowing for the subsequent version. I am unable to say a lot about that now,” he stated.

“The climate circumstances – solar and little wind – have been good for the spectators, however much less so for the course of the race. When there may be extra wind in De Moeren, there may be extra fragmentation and no pack sprinting to the end line.

“We do not manage a race to have crashes. It’s the riders who make the race, we’ll have to sit down collectively to see how it may be made safer. Or at the least: to make sure that there may be much less likelihood of crashes.”