Protester — and familiar face — on the road causes crash for defending champion Molano in Tour of Bruges

It happened in the finale, at around 25 kilometres from the line. There had first been a crash involving, among others, outsider Orluis Aular of Movistar, but less than a minute later television pictures showed Molano on the ground. He was slow to get back up and was clearly furious about something or someone. At first, it looked as though he might have been reacting to a motorbike on the course, but the situation turned out to be different.

The motorbike had indeed come onto the road, though for a reason. A protester was sitting in the middle of a narrow cobbled section, and the rider on the motorbike tried to remove him from the road. That did not succeed in time, and the result was that Molano crashed. His hopes of a second straight victory in the Tour of Bruges were gone, with Dylan Groenewegen eventually taking the win instead. The incident was flagged during the race in a post on X.

The protester turned out to be a familiar face. It was Wouter Mouton, a Belgian activist who has repeatedly put himself in the spotlight during sporting events and other public occasions. He has previously defaced Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and also chained himself to a goalpost during a match between Anderlecht and AA Gent in 2022.

Cycling fans may know him best from the 2022 Tour of Flanders. Behind the sprinting lead group, where Mathieu van der Poel sealed his second victory in De Ronde, Mouton crossed the finish line wearing a shirt bearing the slogan “climate justice now”. This time he again interfered with a cycling race, but with more serious consequences. At Sporza, they immediately recognised him. “It’s him again!” commentator Karl Vannieuwkerke exclaimed. IDL’s Tour of Flanders page also lists Van der Poel as the 2022 winner, confirming the historical reference in the original piece.

Organiser Golazo has decided to file a complaint against Mouton.