Mass crash at Tour of Flanders: Pole Maciejuk disqualified

Polish professional cyclist Filip Maciejuk has been disqualified from the 107th Tour of Flanders after causing a mass crash.

The 23-year-old ran into a ditch around 142 kilometres before the finish and cleared almost the entire field of riders when he jumped back onto the road.

Belgian Tim Wellens, an important helper to favourite Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia), had to abandon the race. Wout van Aert from Belgium, who was in contention for victory, was also affected, as were the former world champions Julian Alaphilippe (France) and Peter Sagan (Slovakia). The peloton then slowed down until the riders who had crashed had caught up again. The organisers excluded Maciejuk from the race a few minutes after the crash.

Copyright 2023, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved