Racing may be done and dusted, but there’s still drama lingering from the 2024 UCI road worlds. The race was highlighted by an incredible 100km breakaway from Tadej Pogačar, culminating in a 50-km solo victory, but there were many other noteworthy moments. One such instance involved defending champion Mathieu van der Poel briefly hopping onto the sidewalk, which is not allowed.
Latvian federation called for discipline against MvdP
Van der Poel finished third, one spot ahead of Latvia’s Toms Skujins. The Latvian federation lodged a formal complaint against the maneuver, calling for discipline against the Dutchman.
“We wish to draw your attention to a potentially dangerous race situation and the fact that a video of this moment is circulating on social media, showing a very dangerous move by Mathieu van der Poel during the Elite Men world championship in Zurich 2024, as the Dutch rider rode on a walkway with 58.4 km to go. This was when van der Poel briefly rode onto the sidewalk to overtake and attack a group of riders, narrowly missing some spectators,” the statement read, which was posted on X.
Against the rules
The statement cited UCI Cycling regulation 2.12.007: Race Incidents Relating to Road Events Rule 7.6. “A rider jumping onto a walkway and endangering the public or other riders must be disqualified immediately,” it continued. “The issue isn’t merely that he was riding on the pavement, which would typically result in a fine of 200 to 1000 Swiss Francs; in this case, van der Poel wasn’t even given a fine. The real problem is that he endangered spectators, a violation that has consistently been penalized with disqualification this year, as seen with Marlen Reusser at the 2024 Gent-Wevelgem and Luke Rowe at the 2018 Ronde van Vlaanderen.”
However, despite the complaint, the UCI decided not to reprimand van der Poel.
No reason to jump on the sidewalk
Latvian Federation president Sandis Akis stated that van der Poel nearly collided with a spectator while passing three riders on a footpath, seemingly without reason, as he wasn’t trying to avoid a crash.
According to Akis, after the race, representatives from the Latvian Federation approached UCI commissaires to discuss the incident. However, one of the race commissaires indicated that all commissaires had witnessed the situation and deemed it neither dangerous nor deserving of a penalty.
Urška Žigart woke up Tadej Pogačar after he overslept on Sunday
“The Latvian representative insisted that the rules apply to everyone, but the commissaire argued that it wouldn’t be good for the sport, interpreting the rules as they saw fit. The Latvian representative was subsequently sent away. It seems that some are more equal than others, especially when it comes to unpopular decisions,” the statement continued.
Could have been much worse
As a small federation, they expressed their deep concern about this decision. “If van der Poel had crashed into a spectator on the road, would that have been good or bad for our sport? We urge the UCI to apply its rules consistently to ensure the safety and integrity of cycling and not to leave this kind of potential accident unaddressed, just because of so-called damage to reputation. We, as part of the cycling world, expect the UCI to publicly explain the commissaires’ decision to avoid similar situations, as neglecting this issue creates a greater risk for racing in the future, which is something no one wants,” the statement concluded.
But as far as the UCI is concerned, the matter is settled. Tadej Pogačar takes the rainbow jersey, Ben O’Connor the silver, van der Poel finishes third, and Skujins fourth.
Van der Poel will have another chance at the rainbow jersey, as he is set to compete in the 2024 gravel worlds on Sunday.
The post Latvian Federation complain van der Poel broke rules appeared first on Canadian Cycling Magazine.
