Dylan Groenewegen blames riders themselves for Brugge-De Panne mayhem: "Nobody really gives each other space"
Cycling
The final kilometers of Classic Brugge-De Panne were marked by many crashes with some of the biggest pre-race favourites involved. Dylan Groenewegen saw the likes of Tim Merlier or Olav Kooij hit the tarmac while he himself got held back in one of the crashes and never got to compete for the victory today.
The Dutch champion told Eurosport that he didn't notice much of the crashes themselves. "But you do notice that it's hectic with so many sprinters in the peloton," he said shortly after the finish.
The hectic situation resulted in a series of crashes. Among others, favourites Tim Merlier and Olav Kooij, but also contenders like Milan Fretin and Gerben Thijssen came into contact with the asphalt. Therefore the final of Classic Brugge-De Panne turned into a battle for survival rather than the anticipated sprint of the fastest men on the planet.
How could it go so wrong according to Groenewegen? "Nobody really gives each other space. It's a bit nervous all day because there's a bit of wind, but not enough. And at the end everyone knows where they have to sit in the finale. That applies for every sprinter." And then the roads can suddenly become very crowded.
The Team Jayco AlUla sprinter does not want to point the finger at the organization. "Now it was just before that narrowing, but in UAE (Tour, ed.) on a five-lane road we also fall. So yes, I think it is also partly up to the riders themselves," Groenewegen judges.
The 31-year-old sprinter did not crash himself, but could was still held back by the number of crashes and finished only 9th, far off the winner. "My derailleur was hit. There is nothing left of it, so my gear kept jumping from left to right. Molano won because he suddenly had space, but it was crazy," Groenewegen concluded.
I saw the ending, the riders were all over the place trying to move up. It was only a matter of time till somebody crashed.
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- And he probably wasn’t even at the limit ;-) Have to wonder how much Mads could catch up if he’d tune his physique to be as sharp as MVDPs’Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Respect for giving Van Eetvelt credit there.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- He’s already a star for me for HAVING complained about it, the recent trend having been, let them then try to take advantage by making them sign NDAs ;-)Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Agreed, but if it was a radio thing then all the riders should have the same story and it would be easy to call anyone out. Kind of surprised this isn’t cleared up half officially afterwards, just like the Alaphilippe divorce, seems like once something spreads on the net it kind of gets accepted that everyone wants to have their own truth so no-one bothers to contest anything that’s verifiable anymore, we all just move on.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- maybe. what makes that a LITTLE fishy is that they suddenly hit the gas and started hammering it. even mathieu, who i’ve never heard complain about ANYTHING (other than teenage girls waking him up and being spit on by belgians) was pretty hacked off about the race tactics after the split. i think he was upset for what his teammates had to do, not for the fact he ended up isolated as a result.OCexile31-03-2025
- It seems that in E3 it wasn’t legit to criticise teams that « took advantage » because there was no radio communication about the incident so they couldn’t know to slow down. Only one source so far but should be quite easy to verify.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- mads SMOKED it at ghent! love that guy. he’s just the best interview ever, always smart and hilarious and with a biting intolerance for stupidity. happy for him. just as a secondary thought, consider that mvdp beat THAT version of mads by a full minute at E3 two days ago. the gap between pog/mvdp and even tho other GREAT riders like mads is kinda staggering to comprehend. this is a time in cycling history that’s certainly worth paying attention to while it lasts.OCexile31-03-2025
- i watched the race. jasper and roodhooft have a legit anger about this. alpecin burned everyone to pull it back. they did the SAME THING after the split in E3, burning all their guys and thus leaving mathieu to fend for himself (which worked out ok because van der poel is van der poel, but still…). yeah, christopher and jasper should be a little pissed this time.OCexile30-03-2025
- Mads, Ganna, MvdP, Pogi were all in MSR, and will all be in both RVV and PR, the problem here is Remco because he doesn't race anything. This year because of injuries, before that, no idea why notvappaxbipmv30-03-2025
- Will it take oil money to get Mads, Remco, Tadej, Ganna and MVDP to line up for the same classic or monument or will Lady Luck help us with this one.Mistermaumau30-03-2025