Filip Maciejuk, the young Polish rider with Bahrain Victorious, has apologised for causing a major crash early in the Tour of Flanders today. The 23-year-old tried to overtake on the right side of the peloton but misjudged his effort and ended up in a flooded grass verge.
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He then lost control a little and darted to his right and back into the front of the peloton. While he stayed upright himself, he bounced into others riders and caused a mass pile-up that rippled back through the bunch.
Those who came down in the incident included: Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep), Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies),Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates), Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar).
Turner, Lazkano, Wellens and Sagan were all forced out of the race after the incident with 140km to go.
Maciejuk, who is in just his second season at World Tour level, was disqualified from the race. He immediately went onto social media to take responsibility for the incident and apologise to all involved.
"Iām really sorry for my mistake and causing the crash today," he said. "I hope all those involved are in good health and safe.This should not happen and was a big error in my judgement.
"I had no intention of causing this. All I can do now is apologise for my mistake and learn from this in the future. Sorry again to the peloton, my teammates and the fans."
