Race jury bails out Visma

While the big names are doing battle at the Giro d’Italia, Visma | Lease a Bike‘s development squad are racing in Luxembourg at the Flèche du Sud — and making quite an impression. The Dutch team have been setting the agenda in the hills of the Ardennes, but almost lost everything due to a very unusual incident.

Matthew Brennan was having a bit of fun racing in his own age group again rather than with the professionals. The 20-year-old sprinter, who won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne earlier this year, was clearly the strongest in the first two stages. But stage three called for climbers — so it was over to the others.

Visma | Lease a Bike put 19-year-old Belgian Matisse Van Kerckhove at the front, and it paid off: he won stage three and took over the leader’s jersey from his teammate. Heading into stage four, he looked set to defend it impressively — until things almost went very badly wrong.

It was a nervy stage, full of narrow roads, tight corners and no end of hazards. That put not only the riders on edge but, apparently, the motorbike marshals too. In the final kilometre, the lead motorbike took a wrong turn — and a large portion of the peloton followed it.

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Motorbike causes panic at Visma | Lease a Bike

Visma | Lease a Bike had assembled a full lead-out train for Brennan, with Van Kerckhove as part of it. The formation was the victim. The stage win went to Danish rider Marcus Sander Hansen, while Van Kerckhove and company lost significant time due to the error.

That error was of course corrected by the organisers. The unlucky riders were reinstated to the same time as the winner, so Van Kerckhove retains the leader’s jersey. But Brennan was denied what would have been his third stage win of the race. “We lost a chance at the win because of this,” sporting director Gaëtan Pons told the team’s website.

After that farce, one more stage remains in Luxembourg — a demanding finale. Van Kerckhove starts it with a five-second lead over his nearest rival. “Tomorrow’s closing stage promises to be particularly nervy again. The technical finale with lots of corners could create extra stress in the peloton. Within the team, the full focus is on securing the overall classification with the young Belgian.”