Tour of the Basque Country: Controversy and Crashes Shake Up the Race

05/04/2024 07:00 | by Marnix Taes

Mattias Skjelmose can call himself the new leader in the Tour of the Basque Country, but the Dane from Lidl-Trek will not wear this first leader’s jersey wholeheartedly. Primoz Roglic (BORA-hansgrohe) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), the two in front of him, disappeared from course after a gigantic crash, in which Skjelmose’s compatriot Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) was also involved. Fellow riders expressed their opinions on various (social) media.

Nils Politt, third in the Tour of Flanders and second in the Omloop het Nieuwsblad, mainly alludes to speed and also thinks that the age of the riders has something to do with it. “The stress level is much higher these days,” says 30-year-old Politt in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. ‘The races are going faster and faster and riders are attacking earlier. The young riders also want to prove themselves, which increases the danger on the road.’

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Pello Bilbao, sixth in the last Tour de France, complained to Spanish media. Like Mathieu van der Poel, he also believes that the responsibility lies with the riders themselves. ‘This should make cyclists think. They may be the ones causing the danger. It is important that we reconsider the way we cycle against each other,” said the 34-year-old Bilbao to Spanish media, who lost his teammate Gino Mader last year.

Skjelmose’s teammate Natnael Tesfatsion was one of the first to hit the asphalt, and also saw the Danish champion. ‘We were riding downhill after the first steep climb and the road was very bumpy as we were fighting for positions. Unfortunately, we went a bit too fast and that caused some riders to fall, after which more followed…’, Skjelmose tells his side of the story.

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“It was very unfortunate and I don’t think it was anyone’s fault,” says Skjelmose, who is looking for explanations for the many falls in recent weeks. ‘To be honest, there is indeed a lot of falling in this match. I am a bit surprised about that, because I come here from the always nervous Paris-Nice.’ Earlier, David Gaudu and Tom Pidcock, among others, had already dropped out, while Roglic, like Juan Ayuso, also crashed on Wednesday.

‘This year the course in the Basque Country is a bit easier, but the level is so high. So many boys can participate at the front,” explains the winner of last year’s Tour of Switzerland. ‘If we go up with crazy power, there are still sixty guys in the peloton on top of a climb. That always makes it a bit nervous, there’s nothing more to say about it. That’s just how cycling is,” concludes the new leader of the Tour of the Basque Country Eurosport.

Hermans: ‘I think the bend was misjudged’

Quinten Hermans, stage winner on Wednesday, was also there. “I didn’t see a lot of it, but I was there,” said the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider. ‘I was able to avoid it a little bit and drive into the bushes, where most of them were on the ground right in front of them. “I’m really one of the lucky ones, the damage isn’t too bad,” he said VTM News.

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‘I think the riders misjudged the bend. There were a lot of bumps in that corner and I think that’s why they didn’t dare to brake. The braking moment was gone and the bend was sharper than expected. As a result, the second rider lost all his line. “I can’t say it was a dangerous course or a dangerous bend, I think we pushed the limits too hard,” Hermans concludes.

Mikel Bizkarra, from the region and rider at Euskaltel-Euskadi, knows the road well and made himself heard on X. ‘There are many tree roots under the asphalt on that road, making the road very bumpy. At first glance you don’t see them, but without realizing it you bounce around. If you don’t hold the handlebars properly, you can easily get up.” Pello Bilbao, on behalf of Bahrain Victorious, confirmed that analysis as a rider from the Basque Country.

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