Director of Challenge Mallorca fumes after Trofeo Andratx cancellation: "It was the riders who decided to stop... It seems to us a lack of respect"
Cycling
The Challenge Mallorca has suffered today the unexpected cancellation of its penultimate race. The Trofeo Andratx was brought to a premature finish, just 25 km after starting due to dangerous conditions for the riders.
The mess has now exploded into controversy though, after the post-race statements of the director of the Challenge Mallorca series, collected by Jordi Tomàs. It was expected that he would make a statement on the matter to clarify what happened. What he has stated is that the decision to suspend the race has been one from the riders and not the organization.
"It is a complicated and sad day. We have been left without a race, and we have not been able to save the weather and non-weather conditions that have occurred," began pointing out Manuel Hernandez, before making it clear how upset they are with the situation. "We started from Andratx and there were a couple of falls. At kilometre 23, the President of the Technical Jury was visited by the 3 riders who represent the CPA (Riders Association) in our race. They communicated that they saw the road as very unsafe, dangerous, and that they had taken the decision to stop", he added.
"I want to make it clear that it was the riders, and not the organization, who decided to stop. The jury didn't have much choice because the peloton had stopped. There was not much of a solution. It is true that the teams had been warned that the road was dangerous, and to slow down," continued the Challenge director.
"We respect the decision of the racers. We do not share it, neither we nor the jury. We didn't like at all that the organization had no say in this decision. It seems to us a lack of respect towards us, since a lot of money has been spent. There has been no solution. Against that we have not been able to do anything, but we show our absolute rejection," he said.
Y este es el comunicado oficial que ha emitido la organización. pic.twitter.com/cXd3mU3Uji
— Le Puncheur (@LePuncheur_) February 1, 2025
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