The Vintage Brugge-De Panne used to be disrupted by means of a stunning sequence of crashes within the ultimate 5 kilometres, injuring a lot of riders together with pre-race favorite, Ecu champion Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep).
Merlier’s group blamed the wrecks at the loss of wind to get a divorce a peloton stuffed with the game’s most sensible sprinters and just about each and every group within the battle along with slender, twisting roads earlier than the end line in De Panne.
2nd-placed Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) survived to complete millimetres at the back of winner Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Workforce Emirates), describing the end: “The parcours was pretty dangerous with this run-in to the final kilometre – from three lines it was going in one, then this right turn, and then this twisty bit a few hundred meters to go. This makes everything a bit nervous and dangerous because, of course, everyone wants to stay in the front – everyone wants to win.”
Sports activities director for Soudal-Quickstep Iljo Keisse, a former rider, blamed the loss of wind for no longer breaking apart the peloton earlier than the end.
“It would have been better with wind in De Moeren, then everything would have been broken up there,” Keisse stated in line with Sporza.be. “Then you also sprint with a smaller group. But a peloton sprint with this group? You knew that would go wrong.”
The primary crash got here simply out of doors 5km to head when the route became left off a three-lane highway onto a one-lane highway whilst the peloton used to be in complete flight in pursuit of the breakaway. Lindsay De Vylder (Flanders Baloise) seemed to be the worst affected, with a bloodied face.
The second one got here when 3 Intermarché-Wanty riders crashed on a straightaway. Then, as riders had been seeking to transfer up at the trail along the roadway, one rider from Cofidis dropped again onto the tarmac, touching wheels with the rider forward of him and fell, taking down a slew of riders, together with Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Lodges).
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All you heard used to be ‘crash, crash, crash’
Piet Allegaert and Milan Fretin (Cofidis) had been sufferers of crashes within the finale of Vintage Brugge-De Panne (Symbol credit score: Getty Photographs)
It used to be the overall crash that ruined Tim Merlier’s race, and it got here because the race used to be coming into a narrowing of the roadway and riders ran into every different, inflicting a crash that ricocheted in the course of the bunch and into Merlier, who used to be seeking to keep away from the chaos.
“All you heard on the race radio was crash, crash, crash and more crash,” Keisse stated. “He tried to move up because he was a bit out of position. And then it all happened very quickly, but he flew very far.
“He straight away requested for the physician at the radio, and that’s by no means a excellent signal. We put him within the automotive, and he’s now within the bus with the physician for first support.”
Merlier suffered a deep wound to his knee and could be out of Gent-Wevelgem this weekend.
Keisse knew to warn the riders about the dangerous finale, but there haven’t been many serious incidents in the race in recent years because the wind usually splits up the peloton.
“This morning right through the assembly, I stated: ‘It’s so bad that typically not anything occurs’. Lately, miraculously, issues have all the time long gone really well, and as of late, it went horribly unsuitable.
“Four crashes in 2.5 km is a bit too much… For a race of this level, the sprinters’ classic, it is a bit of an unacceptable finale.”
Sam Welsford (Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) made it thru unscathed however nonetheless suggested organisers to inspect the route extra carefully. “The final is dangerous, and they should look at this,” Welsford stated to Sporza. “I know this is a race with history, and I love it, but there has to be something that can be changed on the course.”
Alpecin-Deceuninck lead-out guy Jonas Rickaert misplaced his sprinter Jasper Philipsen to heavy braking on account of some of the crashes.
“When you go to the last 800 meters with 60 fairly fresh men and it becomes one car wide, then you know it’s going to be super hectic,” Rickaert stated.
“Everyone wants to drop their sprinter off there, and that makes it super dangerous. With echelons, you get a different story, but maybe they should look for a better and safer option. You saw today that it is really dangerous.”
Jasper Philipsen stated he have shyed away from crashing however used to be stuck at the back of one after which used to be out of competition (Symbol credit score: Getty Photographs)Organiser vows to inspect course
Bruno Dequeecker, the organiser of the Vintage Brugge-De Panne used to be in dismay on the chaos, telling Sporza, “This hurts my heart. The peloton has completed the course three times before the finish, but in the final kilometres, crashes like this happen… It hurts.
“We can have to take a seat down with the riders to look how it may be made more secure.
“The course has been unchanged for years and is controlled by the UCI. So, this is an unfortunate coincidence. The riders clearly all wanted to give everything to win, unfortunately, that led to accidents.”
Dequeecker plans to seem into adjustments to make the end secure. “We will have to evaluate that narrowing for the next edition. I can’t say much about that now,” he stated.
“The weather conditions – sun and little wind – were perfect for the spectators, but less so for the course of the race. When there is more wind in De Moeren, there is more fragmentation and no pack sprinting to the finish line.
“We do not prepare a race to have crashes. It is the riders who make the race, we will have to take a seat in combination to look how it may be made more secure. Or a minimum of: to make certain that there’s much less probability of crashes.”
#ClassicBruggeDePanne :flag-be: Terrible caída en la aproximación al último quilómetro de la carrera con Olav Kooij :flag-nl: (Team Visma Lease a Bike) y Tim Merlier :flag-be: (Soudal-Quick Step) pic.twitter.com/V3mBZUy6wXMarch 26, 2025
