Flashbacks to Amstel Gold Race? Questions raised over mysterious bottle given to Pogacar in Roubaix: "Not everyone gets permission"

The problem was that the gap with the chasing pack was less than half a minute. In that situation, a support car is not allowed to pass the second group, but that is what happened. "That's not okay," says Dirk De Wolf. "The UAE support car had to pass several groups of riders during that maneuver. That was dangerous at that stage of the race. But when you're talking about Tadej Pogacar, the world champion, apparently you're allowed to do a little more at certain moments."

Jan Bakelants agreed with his compatriot. He also compared a situation in which Pogacar had been involved before. "It reminded me of the situation in the Amstel Gold Race two years ago," he said. "Pogacar was allowed to change bikes on the Kruisberg while riding in the leading group. That wasn't allowed because the gap between the leading group and the peloton was only 40 seconds." In the end, Pogacar won the race, with the jury car also playing a role. According to many, Leo van Vliet drove his car too close to Pogacar, who managed to gain an advantage.

After that bike change in the Dutch classic, Bakelants was also critical. "But the jury had seen our program and said afterward that they had given permission to UAE at the time. And I think that happened again last Sunday," he said. "But not everyone is going to get that permission,” De Wolf noted. Ruben Van Gucht also found it a strange incident. 'I have rarely seen a rider beg so desperately for food. It looked like he was in some kind of crisis; it was something he had to have."

So what was in the bottle he accepted? It was a muscle cramp relief product, according to the team. Pogacar already acted weird after Trouée d'Arenberg, stretching and flexing on his bike. "It was a mix of concentrated electrolytes and salt," the team told Velo. "It tastes awful, and it's not used often; it's only used in emergencies. It's only effective against cramps, not a gel or anything like that." Pogacar—who almost fell off his bike when he grabbed the bottle—could continue on the cobblestones shortly after the incident: it must have worked.

The incident stood out even more because the world champion almost crashed. His front wheel hit the team car's rear wheel. He managed to stay on his bike, and miraculously, his front tire wasn't damaged. But unfortunately, disaster struck an hour later when Pogacar hit the ground. Only Mathieu van der Poel was left after Mads Pedersen and Stefan Bissegger had flat tires and Jasper Philipsen had been dropped. The Slovenian had to chase, but even an extra anti-cramp bottle might not have helped: after a bike change, he entered the Roubaix Velodrome in second place, behind the Dutch winner.

After the race, the Slovenian mentioned the positioning of the motorcycles as a possible reason for the crash. "When riding at full speed, you focus on the motorcycles," he explained. "And when they don't make the turn, you think there's no turn. Suddenly, they were very close because they were standing still... (laughs) I should have seen it coming, so I'm not using it as an excuse," said Pogacar, who praised his opponent van der Poel: "A great champion," is how he described him.