"Everyone knows that the bike does not ride to the finish" - Arnaud De Lie blames the peloton for Volta ao Algarve chaos

The morning after the night before, and the fallout of the chaotic end to stage 1 at the 2025 Volta ao Algarve continues to dominate the cycling world. There have been varying views from those in the race as to who was to blame, but according to Lotto sprinter Arnaud De Lie, the fault stops with the riders themselves.

"We had reconnoitred the final and we had studied everything well," explained the Belgian post-stage, clear in the knowledge that everyone needed to be on the left side of the road. "But suddenly everyone went to the right. Then you have to go to the right with the rest of the peloton, otherwise you might cause others to fall."

Because of this knowledge to stay left that De Lie and most, if not all, of the peloton would have had of the finale, the Belgian firmly believes that it's the riders themselves that must take blame, not the race organisation. "It is the first rider of the peloton who followed the bike. Everyone knows that the bike does not ride to the finish and that it turns off at a certain point. The organization cannot do much about this," concludes the Belgian national champion. "As riders, we have so many tools these days to explore the course. This should not happen."

As it turned out, that first rider on the peloton was De Lie's own teammate at Lotto, Jarrad Drizners. Post-stage, the Aussie admitted fault, but blamed a confusing lack of barriers to block the wrong side of the road. "It's a stupid mistake, but there was no clear signalling," Drizners explained. "I didn't see any barriers on either side. It was all very confusing. I think everyone in the peloton will confirm that it was very unclear. There was also a lot of confusion on the team bus afterwards."