'Scapegoat' in major Tour de France crash faces response from organisers

The Tour de France was shaken up on Friday during Stage 12 by the first serious crash of the race. In the middle of a sprint, Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural) hit the pavement, taking a select group of riders down with him. Both Gaviria and Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Intermarché) suffered broken collarbones and were forced to withdraw from the race.

Gaviria collided with Vlad Van Mechelen’s (Bahrain Victorious) rear wheel, causing him to crash onto the asphalt. The Belgian said immediately after the race that he didn’t know exactly what had happened and that he had felt something, but later that evening he was informed by the jury that he had been disqualified.

Even though Van Mechelen really couldn’t have done much about it, as he himself acknowledges. “I may have strayed a bit from my line, but it was very slight and at a slow speed. I didn’t realize what had happened—and how Gaviria had touched my rear wheel—until I was on the bus. In my view, I didn’t do much wrong.”

In addition to being demoted, Van Mechelen also received a hefty fine and had 18 points deducted from his license. “Was I punished too harshly? This kind of thing happens all the time. They’re punishing the consequence instead of the cause,” he explained to VTM Nieuws.

Van Mechelen feels that the organization sees him as a scapegoat, though the organization itself isn’t entirely blameless, given the sharp turn at the finish. “Someone has to take the blame for all the riders who crashed. I feel like all the blame is being pinned on me,” he laments.

Stage 12 of the Tour de France saw a major sprint crash that took down Uno-X riders Soren Waerenskjold and Jonas Abrahamsen after Fernando Gaviria and Jenno Berckmoes fell, with Gaviria and Berckmoes suffering broken collarbones. Waerenskjold and Abrahamsen escaped with bruises and scrapes, though Abrahamsen hit the barriers and credited his helmet for protecting him. Abrahamsen said the crash happened at high speed and there was little he could do, while Waerenskjold joked about extensive road rash and said he hopes to make it to Paris. Read more