Schreiber slams disrespectful European cyclocross championship judges: 'They didn’t even let me finish speaking'

Schreiber beat Brand in a two-way sprint. In the final stretch, she veered slightly to the left, but neither Brand nor team manager Sven Nys nor national team coach Gerben de Knegt made an issue of it. Nevertheless, the jury decided to disqualify Schreiber, causing the Luxembourg rider to miss out on the podium. “Disrespectful,” she said of the decision.

On Monday afternoon, she gave a detailed account of her experience back home, beginning with the moment she realised she had just achieved her goal: becoming European champion. “It was four tough weeks that brought all my emotions to the surface. Until 4:00 p.m. yesterday, I didn’t even know if it would all work out, and that really takes a toll on you as a person.”

Until… “What exactly happened at that moment? After you cross the finish line, you obviously always have to take a moment to catch your breath. Normally, we get ready for the interview, the stage, and everything that goes with it. But then we were suddenly called away for an interview. Or so we thought."

"We were supposed to report there, but in the background we could already hear that they had to wait for the jury’s decision. From that moment on, no one knew what to expect. My name was called, and there was discussion about a possible demotion. Without realising it, I immediately thought, ‘Okay, this isn’t good.’ “When we went outside, no one was still sure of anything, but you could tell from my demeanor that something wasn’t right,” said Schreiber.

She continues. “We were picked up by a police commissioner who wanted to tell me he had bad news for me. Then I said, ‘I’d rather not hear this here in front of all these people—just tell me straight up.’ We then went into a small room with three police commissioners. I tried to tell my side of the story there and explain what had happened, but they didn’t even let me finish speaking.”

"I found that extremely disrespectful," Schreiber said. “They barely listened to us. Lucinda then added, ‘It shouldn’t have turned out this way; we tried to do everything fairly and properly.’ No official protest had ever been filed; it really came purely from the board members themselves.”

"Two of them disagreed, but Lucinda also said, 'Marie won fair and square—what's this all about?'" The head of the judges remained fairly unperturbed and essentially settled the matter right away. He simply said, “The decision is final; this is the outcome,” according to the Luxembourg contestant, describing those few minutes in the judges’ car.

Although she didn’t win the title, Schreiber still looks back on a day when she was in good physical form. “This was truly one of the best races I’ve ever ridden. Normally, I might not perform quite as well at a European Championship, but this time I stayed very calm.” Despite the tactical maneuvering by the Dutch, I kept my cool. It’s disappointing that the race had to end this way, and it won’t be forgotten anytime soon, but from a sporting perspective, it was indeed one of my best performances ever.”

"The fact that I was able to stay so calm and drive a tactically perfect race shows that I can handle this level of competition. They didn't get the better of me. I'm proud of what I've accomplished, and I'll carry that with me into the future," she continues.

In closing: the Luxembourg federation has filed a complaint. Could anything come of that? “Of course, I hope we can still do something about it, but given the lack of transparency on the part of the commissioners and the way this was handled, I don’t expect them to back down. They’ll insist they’re right, even though their conduct was completely unprofessional.”