"Don’t give Dirk too much sh*t for this" - Tiesj Benoot defends Visma mechanic after crucial bike mix-up in Tour of Flanders finale
CyclingMonday, 01 April 2024 at 10:30
Heading into the conclusion of Tour of Flanders 2024, whilst Mathieu van der Poel was a clear leader, the rest of the podium was still very much up for grabs. Tiesj Benoot was right in the mix too, at least until an untimely puncture.
"In the finale I unfortunately had a flat tire. Maybe otherwise I could have fought for a place on the podium, but that's how it is," he lamented in a post-race interview with the Team Visma | Lease a Bike official website. "It was a very hard day. We tried as a team, but unfortunately the competition proved too strong today."
To make matters worse for Benoot, when a quick change was necessary, the wrong bike was pulled off the car, leaving a humorous yet frustrating image of the 30-year-old Belgian attempting to ride the bike of his much larger teammate, Dylan van Baarle, before giving up and waiting for another bike.
As images of this quickly started doing the rounds on social media, Benoot used his official X (Twitter) account to defend the Team Visma | Lease a Bike mechanic. "Don’t give Dirk too much shit for this," Benoot writes. "He is one of the best mechanics I know and this was just an unfortunate moment following on a really hectic race. My other bike was already not on the car anymore following a mechanical on second time Kwaremont. Peace and love."
Read also
claps 5visitors 5
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Apr 06, 15:11
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- Go, Yatesy!! And Felix!mhfrvz08-05-2025
- He (itsent) is making fun of you (awp).verve82508-05-2025
- It's pretty obvious they didn't notice the step and stumbled down. It's clear because there are other spectators sitting on the step and the stumbler was looking at the peloton and not where they were stepping.Pogboom08-05-2025
- If Primoz wins, it'll only be because no TdF contenders show up to the Giro.Veganpotter08-05-2025
- To me it seems like she wanted to take a step closer but she hadn’t noticed the level was lower and as she tried to look down to understand the unexpected movement in her leg her balance continued forward and then she tried to find footing to stop the movement but there was none left so down she went, silly fart. Hope that girl in the red jersey was ok, didn’t seem to react well.Mistermaumau07-05-2025
- and Mc Nulty....
maria2024202407-05-2025 - mmmmm... AYUSO, Adam, AYUSO, Mc nulty, AYUSO.... UAE without the clear POgacar leadership could be a mess.... we'll see...maria2024202407-05-2025
- he's the most elegant rider in the peloton, like a dancer.maria2024202407-05-2025
- So the Piddie GC experiment is over. He should have done that long agoabstractengineer07-05-2025
- So 50/50 huh? Not much of a prediction there.awp07-05-2025
Stupid, rookie mistake!
All these heat of the moment incidents are unfair to criticise, yes they can be and are used for emotions and spectacle but you can’t blame or punish anyone for doing their best.
In the last week we’ve seen:
This Dirk trying to help Benoot abap (as best as possible) even though there was no bike for him
WVA’s mechanic trying to urge him onto a spare bike when he was obviously in no state to get up
Ivan Garcia Cortina trying to start riding a bike on a 20+% slippy gradient
No-one is trained for reacting right in such unforeseen circumstances and it’s even harder when it involves helping another person.
Most of us would probably do things completely wrong in a first aid emergency, even if we’d have learnt the basics, recall is not a familiar experience in unexpected situations.