"The race was over for us" - Jan Tratnik describes Red Bull - BORA's reaction and decision after Etoile de Besseges' car incidents

Jan Tratnik moving from Team Visma | Lease a Bike to Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe was one of the biggest transfers of the winter and the Slovenian has had an odd start to his 2025 season. Whilst he remains in form and motivated for the upcoming weeks, his debut at the Etoile de Bessèges was cut short due to the controversies that surrounded the race.

"I completed all my training sessions successfully, without any health issues. It was my first time competing in the Etoile de Bessèges, and I had high expectations," Tratnik wrote in a personal blog post, where he describes the downfall of the French race. With a small summit finish at Mont Bouquet and a hilly time-trial in Alès, Tratnik was one of the favourites for the overall classification - in a similar course at the Volta ao Algarve last year, he was third behind only Remco Evenepoel and Daniel Martínez.

"In the first two stages, everything went according to plan. The team and I didn’t make any mistakes, so I was looking forward to the next stages," but his plan derailed. "However, due to poor organization of road closures, we were faced with cars on the course in the first two stages. In the second stage, we were lucky to spot a car in time and managed to react and brake safely," he explains. "After several meetings with the race organizers, we still started the third, rainy stage. Unfortunately, the same issue occurred again just 10 kilometers into the race. At that point, the entire peloton stopped and protested."

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Whilst it didn't affect the Slovenian, the first car incident led to a crash that saw his teammate Maxim van Gils abandon the race. The Belgian has not yet spoken about the incident, and he is perhaps the one with most reason to complain. "I won’t lose too much words on what went wrong, but I always put safety first and didn’t want to take unnecessary risks. The team supported our decision, which meant that the race was over for us." Jordi Meeus had been fighting for the sprints, whilst the team was also giving race days to some of it's classics riders, but it ended up not being quite effective.

Tratnik has a clear calendar for the upcoming weeks, which mimics that of 2024 where he showed perhaps the form of his life. "Despite everything, the race was a good stepping stone into the new season, as I broke the ice with my new team and got used to riding in the peloton again. Now, a few tough training sessions await me, followed by the Volta ao Algarve—a race I have nice memories of from last season".

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