Hefty fine (2000 Swiss Francs!) for Van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceuninck after illegal feeding incident in Paris Roubaix! 🤯🤔

Mathieu van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceuninck likely won’t lose sleep over it, but the bill for their post-Paris-Roubaix celebrations will be at least 2,000 Swiss francs higher. Van der Poel and team director Christoph Roodhooft were handed a hefty fine for distributing and receiving food during the final phase of the race, which is not allowed.

Van der Poel struggled on Sunday in his pursuit of a third consecutive Paris-Roubaix win. The Dutch rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck was forced to ride solo to the finish after Tadej Pogacar’s crash left him alone at the front. “I really suffered in the last 30 kilometers, especially because I ended up alone after Tadej’s mistake. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult to drop each other. Now I had to go solo from far out, and that cost a lot of energy,” he said afterward.

We saw Van der Poel visibly gritting his teeth and even briefly shifting to a lighter gear. Cramp was looming, prompting Roodhooft to take action. Despite feeding being prohibited in the final 14 kilometers, the Belgian team boss handed him food anyway, narrowly avoiding a late hunger knock.

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Expensive bill for Van der Poel and Roodhooft

The race jury also noticed the illegal feeding incident and came down hard in the official report. Both Van der Poel and Christoph Roodhooft were fined 1,000 Swiss francs for the violation. It likely won’t concern them much, as Van der Poel managed to win Paris-Roubaix for the third year in a row. He kept Tadej Pogacar behind him in second place, while Mads Pedersen won the sprint for third.

The jury didn’t just target Alpecin-Deceuninck. Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Intermarché-Wanty, and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale were also fined. Team directors Sébastien Hinault, Aike Visbeek, and Julien Jurdie were each fined 200 francs because unidentified riders from their teams were caught riding on roads that weren’t part of the official course. Marcel Sieberg, sports director of Tudor, was fined 500 francs and disqualified during the race for violating the rules governing team cars. Additionally, a staff member from Intermarché-Wanty was fined 200 francs for improperly feeding a rider.

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🎥 Pogacar (bleeding after 3-ton crash) and Van Aert (bleeding knee) crash, Pedersen and Ganna puncture, Teunissen crashes

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