“It was unintentional but it can happen, but I don't see what I could do about it,” Declercq, now at
Lidl-Trek, has since responded about the situation, in quotes collected by HLN. “In principle, they should have said to me: we are here. They couldn't say anything into the earpiece from the car because then the first men would hear that too and that is very confusing. I would have stepped aside, because this is the last thing I would do. Remco should know me as a person, that I would never do something like that on purpose. 'It's possible,' I think it's a bit of a shame that he says that."
“At the top of the climb they said: they are 500 meters behind you. I thought: yes, 500 meters. I looked behind me before that bend and only saw a motorcycle, no riders yet," he concludes. "But they came at such a high speed, 20-30 km/h faster than me... On a straight stretch, you can see far behind you and you pull over. But not on that part. I also find it annoying if you bother someone. I would never want to deliberately hinder anyone, it's an unfortunate set of circumstances. He has already apologized personally and then it is good for me too.”