"The looks say it all" - Arkéa - B&B Hotels scolded for attack on Tadej Pogacar whilst world champion enjoyed nature break at Tour of Flanders 2025
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar claimed his second Tour of Flanders victory today, delivering a commanding performance to avenge his recent Milano–Sanremo defeat to Mathieu van der Poel. But while his ride to glory will dominate the headlines, the day began with unexpected controversy, and not the kind you'd expect in a Monument.
The drama unfolded early in the race when Pogacar, wearing the world champion’s rainbow jersey for UAE Team Emirates–XRG, pulled over during a lull in the action to take a comfort break. As is customary, a teammate moved to the front of the bunch to inform the peloton, a standard act of courtesy in the pro peloton. But not everyone respected the protocol.
Rather than ease up, riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike.
“The world champion's domestique just came up to the front to explain that Pogacar was about to stop for a comfort break,” said Rob Hatch on TNT Sports. “Everybody else started to do the same until, very bad etiquette, Arkea and a couple of other teams en masse [attacked]... that looked an organised move. It's pretty hard to miss Tadej Pogacar in the brilliant white and rainbows.”
Reactions came swiftly, with Robbie McEwen summing up the moment in silence: “Not even words. The looks say it all.”
Adam Blythe offered a more nuanced perspective. “There are two sides to this. It’s not a stage race, so technically there’s no leader. Yes, he’s the world champion. But is there a rule, or is it just a gentleman’s agreement [to stop]? I wouldn’t have attacked…”
Even if not technically against the rules, this is just bad etiquette and frankly I hope the rest of pelaton remembers Arkea don't care about etiquette or honoring tradition which means they shouldn't benifit from it.
I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?
I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.
To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not cool
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