Incredible: Another car on the Bessèges course, half of the teams send riders home

A car entered the Star of Bessèges course for the second day in a row. After Thursday's fiasco, the riders had had enough: they hit the brakes and stopped the race themselves. The peloton will probably continue in the third stage, but without a whole bunch of top teams, they will withdraw their riders. Arnaud De Lie of Lotto eventually won the stage.

It happened less than half an hour after the start signal. At a roundabout, the riders again ran into a car head-on. At that point, they stopped and interrupted the race. The three designated representatives started talking with the jury and organization. After lengthy discussions, an agreement was reached to continue riding. This rubbed some teams the wrong way, as they decided to withdraw their riders.

Multiple sources at the French race reported that Soudal Quick-Step, INEOS Grenadiers, EF Education-EasyPost, and Lidl-Trek sent their riders back to the buses. These teams thought it was enough after the second dangerous incident in two days. "Our team is one of the several that have decided to retire from today's stage due to several incidents over motor vehicles being allowed onto the race course," Soudal Quick-Step posted on social media. "We find this unacceptable and decided not to rejoin the stage as we prioritize the safety of our rides and staff."

Read more below the Tweet!

More teams say goodbye, half Unibet Tietema Rockets out too

It was later announced that Lotto, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Uno-X Mobility, and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe also quit. At Unibet Tietema Rockets, there seems to be a dispute, especially inside the team: Axel Huens, Adrien Maire, and Lukas Kubis no longer wanted to continue; they quit. The rest of the French-Dutch formation continued. The withdrawal of the top teams means that the top three in the classification are out: the virtual leader is Sandy Dujardin of TotalEnergies.

"There was a vote, and the vast majority of riders didn't want to continue," INEOS Grenadiers team manager Zak Dempster explained to journalist Daniel Benson. "There was a car coming onto the course like yesterday, so let's not confuse that with the weather or other things. We wanted to race here, but we can't. There are no guarantees about safety in cycling, and the organization states that it only has 10 motors. That's not perfect, but now we are risking the safety of the riders."

Read more below the photo!

Van Gils sports director Haussler criticizes organization

The first incident occurred on Thursday. Near the end of the second stage, a car drove onto the course and had to reverse down the road. Fortunately, The riders could avoid the vehicle, but the accordion effect caused the peloton to crash. Several riders collided, and a big crash resulted. Maxim Van Gils was injured so severely that he had to abandon the race.  

His sports director Haussler criticized the organization. "I'm new in the business as a sports director," the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe man told Daniel Benson. "But at the end of the day, the UCI needs to ask: Do these guys deserve to put on a race? They need to really look into it, and in my eyes, definitely not. It's a pity if the race disappears, but does something bad have to take place before something really happens?" This was before the second incident: the German formation has abandoned the race now.

Continue reading below the video

This is not the first time things have gone wrong in France with cars on the course. In 2023, it went wrong twice: in Paris-Nice, riders could just avoid disaster: in the inside bend of a descent, a car suddenly appeared. Miraculously, the riders avoided danger, and no one got hurt.

Things also went utterly wrong in the women's 2023 Tour of the Pyrenees. The roads were not fenced off, and there was no surveillance. As a result, several cars drove onto the course. After the second stage, the riders decided not to continue. The organization then criticized the ladies, calling them 'spoiled girls': "They think they are riding Tour de France and that all roads have to be blocked, that everything has to be under control. In France, however, you can't do that."

Read also

📸 Insane! Car drives onto the Star of Bessèges course, causing crash: Van Gils taken to hospital

Another blow in Bessèges: After Van Gils' DNF, defending champion Pedersen also abandons the race

Waerenskjold surprises top sprinters in Bessèges after car drives onto the course in the final

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get every week the latest news about CYCLING in your inbox!

Subscribe