Going even further, we often times see riders use either bikepaths, drainage channels, sidewalks or sometimes even go even off-road during cobbled classics as riders fight to find anywhat solid surface, effectively gaining even greater advantage than Price-Pejtersen did. In accordance to the same rule which saw the Bahrain - Victorious rider disqualified, UCI would end DQing half of the field in races like Paris-Roubaix or Tour of Flanders, had they followed it even half as strictly. So once again, we end up in a situation where there are multiple implications of the same rule by UCI. Conclusion? Not a good sign towards the soon-to-be-introduced yellow cards system.
When asked post race about his Danish title, Mattias Skjelmose got angry and immediately terminated the interview with local
TV2 Sport. "No, you had one chance. See you," said Skjelmose, who indicated beforehand that he "would not answer questions about the result and what happened."
However after cooling down, Skjelmose returned to share some of his thoughts online today: "Yesterday I was named Danish time trial champion for 2024, and that should really be fantastic, because it was with the clear ambition that I arrived at the start in Herning. But the problem is that I didn't win the way I wanted to," he begins his
Instagram post.
"I gave it everything I had, but was less than two seconds behind Johan Price-Pejtersen when I crossed the finish line. The fact that Johan was subsequently disqualified for, according to the commissioners, having taken advantage of riding on the cycle path on part of the route, and that I thus got gold instead of silver, I neither can nor will I take responsibility for. It was not a decision I sought out or pushed for - on the contrary."
"On the other hand, I would like to express my great sympathy for Johan, who is not just a fantastic time trialist, as we saw yesterday, but whom I consider a good friend in the field. I have therefore offered Johan that he can have both the Champion's jersey and medal I was handed at the ceremony - to acknowledge his performance, so that it does not go down in history as pure annoyance."
Price-Pejtersen was seen as massive time trial prospect back in U23, winning European Championships twice (2019 and 2021) as well as World Championships in 2021. However his transition to pros saw him hit a bit of a ceiling, with only a couple time trial top 10s to his name after three seasons in WorldTour.