"That's the cowardliest tactic there is" - Tom Boonen critical of Team DSM's Tour of Flanders road-block

At the recent Tour of Flanders, Team DSM took to the front of the peloton they rode up the Kortekeer. Casting out across the road so no one could pass, they proceeded to reduce the pace to not much more than a crawl in a tactic that has drawn widespread criticism, including now from Tom Boonen.

"It doesn't work," says Classics legend Boonen on Sporza's Wielerclub Wattage podcast. "They make sure that all riders behind them are in misery: riders have to put a foot on the ground and some crash. That's the cowardliest tactic there is."

The UCI have recently announced that Team DSM's tactics are one of the incidents from the 2023 Tour of Flanders under further investigation and Boonen's podcast partner Dirk De Wolf can understand why.  "Something like that doesn't belong in the race. It's already dangerous enough during a race," he explains. 

"I once experienced it in the Giro on a narrow climb. Astana then had a fight with another team and it was fashionable to shut things up when they knew someone had fallen behind," Boonen recalls. "At 1 kilometer from the top, Astana accelerated with their best 2 riders, causing the whole peloton to sit on a ribbon. Then they did the descent à bloc. 3 or 4 riders ended up in hospital."