Van Poppel wins, but relegated for this double switch of Brennan | Video

Danny van Poppel's sprint was crazy, but that didn't stop Tadej Pogačar chipping in on social media, at the expense of old rivals Visma-Lease a Bike

Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) may have crossed the line first on stage 3 at Lidl Deutschland Tour (2.Pro) but the Dutch champion was relegated for switching Matthew Brennan (Visma Lease a Bike).

Van Poppel move significantly in the sprint several times, but it was two moves to left, squeezing stage 1 winner Brennan, that cost him his stage win. Indeed, as Brennan went for a gap between Van Poppel and race leader Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), Van Poppel's moves almost resulted in the British and Norwegian rider crashing.

In the end, Van Poppel crossed the line first from Wærenskjold and Emilien Jeannière (Team TotalEnergies), with Brennan waving his arm in frustration after fading to 7th. But after reviewing the footage, the race jury relegated Van Poppel, this handing the stage win to Wærenskjold.

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Watching on was Tour de France winner and world champion, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who chipped in in defence of Van Poppel. Pogačar has had a trikier relationship than usual with Brennan's Visma-Lease a Bike this year and he chipped in on behanlf of Van Poppel after the incident with Visma's Brennan.

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"The clear winner of today's stage," said Pogačar, sharing an aerial photo showing Van Poppel crossing the line way out front on his own. "(These) relegations are absolutely jokes and not correct, job done poorly... like so many times this year."

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