Time to say goodbye to the 'ridiculous' and 'too dangerous' finish? "There must be better options somewhere here in the Classic Brugge-De Panne"

Crash after crash unfolded in the finale of the WorldTour race Brugge–De Panne. A bunch sprint was all but guaranteed, but it turned into a battlefield. Several top sprinters hit the ground, and after the race, the main topic of conversation was the danger of the finale. IDLProCycling.com spoke with several riders and team directors to get their opinions.

In the front group of riders who crossed the line were mostly those who had managed to avoid the crashes, giving them a shot at the win. Jonas Rickaert (Alpecin–Deceuninck) positioned himself well in the final straight—but unfortunately, without his team leader Jasper Philipsen. “I heard from the team car that there were a lot of crashes,” he said.

So the logical question for the Flemish lead-out man was: is this finish too dangerous? “In the end, yeah,” Rickaert admitted. “It was a nervous day all around, so you know it’s going to be a dangerous finale. If you’ve got a bunch of sprinters in the mix, every team wants to be in the top ten, but there’s only room for ten.”

Fellow lead-out and teammate of Tim Merlier, Bert van Lerberghe (Soudal Quick-Step), was a bit more reserved in his remarks afterward. “Personally, I think it could be better. I think everyone feels the same way. There weren’t any crashes in the past two editions, but today it was twice as bad. They wanted to improve on the old finish, but I think it’s only gotten worse.”

Riders call the finish "absolutely ridiculous": "There must be better options in De Panne"

Moments later, riders began crossing the finish line one by one, covered in cuts and road rash. Several riders from teams like Cofidis, as well as Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling), arrived at the team staff with torn kits. “This is absolutely ridiculous,” were the few words spoken by the Rotterdam native.

But is it still acceptable to have a finish like this—with multiple road obstacles—in a WorldTour race? “We all knew beforehand what the finish would be like, since it’s the same as in recent years,” said Van Lerberghe. “So yeah… dangerous.”

Rickaert believes it’s still doable—but something needs to change. “If you go from a two-lane road to car-width in a WorldTour finale, that’s something to think about. I believe there must be better options somewhere here in De Panne,” Rickaert concluded.

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In the final kilometer, Tim Merlier (far right) was among those who crashed on the tram tracks.

Riders' wives worry, but emerge with good news from the team bus

While many of the riders who crashed still made the effort to officially finish the race, a few opted to turn left just before the line and head straight to the team bus. One of them was Tim Merlier. His partner, Cameron Vandenbroucke, later brought some “good” news, nodding to confirm that the sprinter wasn't too badly hurt.

A little further down, the girlfriend of Edward Theuns assessed the damage at the Lidl–Trek camp. From sports director Steven De Jongh, she learned that Theuns was mostly suffering from road rash. She later checked in on him herself, along with their young son, inside the team bus.

De Jongh, observing from his team car, mostly saw one major issue: far too many obstacles along the route. “There are more and more risks being taken, that’s for sure. There’s not much you can do about the obstacles—the infrastructure is what it is. You could consider finishing outside the town center, but that comes with its own challenges... This is where the people are, the cafés, so that idea probably won’t be too well received either.”

Race dynamics and weather the main cause of stress and chaos in the finale

The race dynamics and mild weather conditions were cited as the main reasons for the chaos. Rickaert explained: “Everyone was still fairly fresh, I think. Everyone wants to bring their sprinter to the line, but that makes it extra dangerous. Sometimes it’s like riding with your eyes closed.”

The freshness of the riders was also mentioned by Steven De Jongh, who did see his sprinter Jonathan Milan make it onto the podium. “In principle, this kind of finale just isn’t acceptable. The advantage in the past two years was that no fresh peloton reached the finish. That wasn’t the case today, and there were just too many obstacles.”

“Today, the weather was such that many teams still had fresh legs. And when you have a lot of fresh sprinters all going for the win, you can expect a situation like this. If there had been more wind, the peloton would’ve been more worn down. But with such nice weather, too many top riders are still in the mix—that’s why we saw so many bad crashes.”

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Visma | Lease a Bike camp sees sprinter Olav Kooij go down as well

Also involved in the crash: Olav Kooij. Despite hitting the ground, the Visma | Lease a Bike sprinter was still able to finish the race. That was a good sign, according to Maarten Wynants, sports director of the Dutch team. “He took a decent hit. I'm at least glad he was able to ride a bit further. That already helps. Now it’s about assessing the damage.”

There didn’t appear to be any fractures initially for the young Dutchman. “But I’m not a doctor,” Wynants added. “The fact that he was able to ride to the finish is the first positive sign.”

Talking about the dangers of this finale wasn’t really on the table yet for the former pro, who had to ride this final kilometer himself during his career. “There’s still too much emotion right now. Crashes happen here a lot. Sometimes when you ride around here, you wonder how it even goes well so often. Roadworks, traffic signs... It wouldn’t hurt to take a good look at this.”

Only one rider had reason to be happy after the race: winner Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates). But even he acknowledged it was a “very dangerous and fast finale.” “But this is cycling. Of course it’s dangerous and crazy—nobody wants to brake, and neither do I. But that’s part of it… This is modern cycling.”

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