Cycling: the 1st stage of the Tour of Poland ends with a spectacular fall

An unspeakable gesture and impressive images. The first stage of the 77th Tour of Poland ended on Wednesday 5 August in Katowice with a very bad gesture: the Jumbo-Visma sprinter Dylan Groenewegen pushed his compatriot Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step) into the barriers, causing the peloton to fall at the finish line.

A few meters before the finish line, Dylan Groenewegen thus deported to the right before hampering with his elbow the Dutch champion Fabio Jakobsen, who flew into the barriers, in a sprint disputed in false- flat descending to nearly 80km / h. The latter made a "sun" and hit head-on a racing judge, who was at the line, behind a barrier.

Massive crash on the finish line in stage 1 of 🇵🇱 @ Tour_de_Pologne! # TDP20 (📺 @ sport_tvppl) pic.twitter.com/mwvDwS9Y3i

The barriers then fell on the road causing other falls, including that of Groenewegen who crossed the line first, or of Frenchman Marc Sarreau, whose team gave reassuring news.

The fall comes a year to the day after the death of 22-year-old Belgian sprinter Bjorg Lambrecht, who died after falling and hitting a concrete structure, also on the Tour of Poland.

"We are not acting that way, I just met the judges, he will surely be disqualified and we will see if we end it there," tour organizer Czeslaw Lang told Polish television TVP Sport. “It was an unfair fight and one of the runners suffered a lot, two others and then a judge suffered as well. The other runners are pretty much ok.”

Deceuninck-Quick Step wants to file a complaint

The disqualification and exclusion from the Gronewegen race were formalized a few moments later, with the stage victory going to Fabio Jakobsen. However, the latter is said to be in serious condition and has been placed in an artificial coma. The racing judge hit in his fall by the Dutch champion is also said to be in a worrying condition.

According to @glosobywatela, the photographer at the finish line is in serious condition and needed resuscitation.

Patrick Lefevere qualified him the gesture of Dylan Groenewegen “of criminal act” and intends to file a complaint. # TDP20

Two Fabio Jakobsen teammates let their anger flare up on social networks. Young cycling prospect, Remco Evenepoel said: "They have to suspend him for life. Shame on you." Another teammate, Frenchman Florian Sénéchal posted a photo of his bloody gloves on Twitter. "I was the first to help Fabio after he fell. To hold his head up. If you look at this photo, you realize the severity of the impact. Be strong my friend." Evenepoel and Sénéchal's tweets were subsequently deleted.

The sports director of the Deceuninck-Quick Step team does not take offense. He announced his intention to press charges against Dylan Groenewegen and tweeted that "this guy from Jumbo-Visma should be put in jail".

They have to put this guy of @TeamJumbo in jail 😡

With AFP

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