BS. Terrible commissaire decision. If this is relegation, than we will see much more of those in the future and we should also see much more in the past. 🤯
“I know myself that I’m a fair rider" - Michael Matthews responds for first time to controversial Tour of Flanders relegation that denied him podium finish
CyclingMonday, 08 April 2024 at 23:30
After a blistering sprint, Michael Matthews thought he'd secured himself a second monument podium of the season at the recent Tour of Flanders. Moments later however, that joy was controversially taken away as he was relegated by the race jury down to 11th.
The reason for the Australian's relegation? Deviating from his line in the sprint and allegedly pushing UAE Team Emirates' Nils Politt into the barriers. “From my point of view I attacked the bunch I was in to ride across to the last two riders I could see infront of me,” reflects Matthews to the official website of Team Jayco AlUla in his first response to the disappointment. “When I was coming close they where side by side, so I didn’t know which way to start my sprint but I knew there was a lot of room on the right side.
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"So, to avoid them, I made my sprint like I did because I didn’t know what they would do infront of me," continues the 33-year-old who already finished a close second at Milano-Sanremo earlier this year. "I didn’t even know or see anyone on my wheel, I was just trying to ride to the finish with so much pain and lactate in my body. It was hard to even push the pedals over and sprint after such a brutal race.”
Team Jayco AlUla quickly appealed the decision but with no overturning on the horizon, Matthews was forced to miss out on the podium finish. “I’m still dealing with the decision,” admitted Matthews. “I know myself that I am very proud of my result and I’m a fair rider. I won’t let the decision take my memories away from what was a very special and beautiful day.”
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- First of all, I hope now all is ok with your baby!. Yeah, about to not accept foreign phone number is a big problem also for me. I have economic interests in 2 countries, I think that all can be ok with my Italian number... but NO! The world is globalized but not for bureaucracies.
maria2024202424-11-2024 - First of all, calm, this is a site to share point of views, doubts, intuitions about cycling. Let's think about it: if someone tells you that he is very tired but is going to run unimportant races immediately, ignoring a world championship much further away in time that would give him the opportunity to rest, there is something very contradictory. Maybe it is fair, but as a simple spectator I (and many others) do not understand it, it does not make sense.maria2024202424-11-2024
- I think the other side has said plenty, given comments about her reputation like what Renz said above. Perhaps this is her chance to speak up against that reputation? I have no idea but her comments seem pretty human, even if each person has their own version of the story.RidesHills24-11-2024
- Give her a team built around her with no competing leaders, like Pogacar has at UAE or Vingegaard has at Visma (seeing how Roglic left), and I wonder how Vollering would do. She’s already so good, and a team dedicated to her could make her even better.RidesHills24-11-2024
- Those injuries, an ability to manage pain and push himself, probably a load of TUEs to help him get back from an awful moment, and competing that hard without the long exercise base that was the norm - no wonder he was exhausted. We’ve now had two consecutive seasons of the second place rider having an injury that interrupts training, and it shows to what level their bodies are tuned for the insane task of winning the Tour. I certainly hope both (and their teams!) are healthy next year. It would be a first, after 4 years.RidesHills24-11-2024
- Winners seem to be like this. Win or lose, it is always on to the next thing. They don’t celebrate the big win, they don’t worry about the painful loss. They move on. It’s an amazing skill. But to be able to ride (and win) while not being able to walk? That’s a level of pain management that boggles my mind. Of course they have it, given what they put their bodies through, but it’s just crazy.RidesHills24-11-2024
- Poor Demi. But she behaves the same way when riding for the national team. Bring me my tiny violin.Renz24-11-2024
- good pointsmij24-11-2024
- Yes, please tell us based on your superior expertise about why JVs training and race schedule is wrong 🧐Crashjames24-11-2024
- I'd like to hear what the other side has to say.mij24-11-2024