"That yellow card was not unjustified" - Jordi Meeus left defenseless after Gent Wevelgem crash
Cycling
The cobbled classics are always days of massive tension in the peloton, specially when it comes to the fight for positioning. At Gent Wevelgem, one of the crashes happened due to Jordi Meeus who flew into a corner, not being able to break and hitting several riders to cause a mass crash. The Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe fully understands why he received a yellow card.
"If you see the images, that yellow card was not unjustified. That action I do happens more often in a classic race, but that crash was unfortunate," Meeus said in words to Sporza.
The Belgian sprinter finished on the Top10 in the day, having recovered afterwards and battled in the final sprint, but before that he had to return to the peloton after a crash in which he was fully guilty. He climbed onto a sidewalk to try and gain positions on the inside of a corner, and simply collided with other riders.
"How did it happen? It was very hectic because we were heading towards the Baneberg the first time. That is an important point in the race. I tried, like everyone else, to move up a few positions. But I misjudged the bend, like everyone else in that group," he explains.
"That's why they braked harder than normal for me. I arrived with a bit too much speed." It was obvious that there would be consequences, although it was only hours after the race report came out that the UCI handed out the punishment.
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🚴🇧🇪 | Kamikaze van Jordi Meeus met een valpartij als gevolg... Dit is een gele kaart, dat kan toch niet anders?! 🟡🟡
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) March 30, 2025
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- TP, for me now, is an alien...
leedorney07-04-2025 - You have to keep all else held equal or you're not isolating the change. A lighter rider is faster at everything, save downhills, all else held equal, as I keep showing. As for wind, just as in flat TTs weight basically doesn't matter, except that lighter equals slightly less rolling resistance. In the same manner, for a 30 kph headwind, weight doesn't matter, as the relevant equation is power vs CdA. The reason why more weight is helpful downhill is the same reason it's hurtful uphill, it "gives back" the energy (not speed) you gained by going up the hill. Lastly, in a sprint, weight is again counterproductive, assuming one has to accelerate up to speed. Accelerating a mass takes energy, and a heavier one takes more energy than a lighter one. Now, at most sprint speeds, almost all energy goes into wind resistance, but the acceleration of mass still does play a part.acem8207-04-2025
- Agreed. He was dropped hard on every other climb. Without the run up he might have not been in the final sprint. And why not try it? Kudos for him for trying to make the race rather than just following.mij06-04-2025
- To me it seemed like an attempt to get through the climb closer to the front, since his burst power was lacking. If he starts earlier he can take the hill slower and still not be too far behind by the top. It kept him in that group of 4, where he might have been dropped had they all stayed together to the bottom of the climb. Who knows, though. I’m just guessing.RidesHills06-04-2025
- No idea, there have been suggestions something is amiss, maybe he doesn’t have all his mind connected at some moments, I’d definitely do a thorough review of his consciousness under effort.Mistermaumau06-04-2025
- Pogacar and van der Poel have won the last 6 Monuments, and 11 of the last 13 Monuments. There’s never been domination like this by two riders, and we are in our third year of it. (Merckx and de Vlaeminck won a total of 30 Monuments between 1966 and 1979, but others were winning along the way, as well.)RidesHills06-04-2025
- Yes but what was the dumb effort by Van Aert to drop Pogacar, Vanderpoel and Pederson about.? Just showing face? If he had stayed on the wheels and not wasted energy, he might have got on the podium in the runners up sprint.Cyclingsbestfan06-04-2025
- What a loser.
santiagobenites06-04-2025 - I agree about the sprint or drilling it on the flat. Lighter rider versus heavier rider. Inertia is the natural tendency of objects in motion to stay in motion (e.g the heavier riders momentum) and objects at rest to stay at rest, unless a force causes the velocity to change.Cyclingsbestfan06-04-2025
- Definitely, he is a great rider, and this season might even be as good as last (in a perfect world, a few more Monuments, a Tour-Vuelta double, and the Worlds again), but he has to do this for years on end to compare to Merckx’s results from roughly 69 to 74. Yes, times have changed, yes competition is different, yes speeds are higher, and so on, but let’s let Pogacar be Pogacar and give him time. We can evaluate his career when he retires. Until then, let’s enjoy it while we have it.RidesHills06-04-2025