Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was disqualified from the Clásica Jaén, having crossed the line in third place, with the race officials judging him to be at fault for Maxim Van Gils‘ (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) heavy crash in the home straight.
Christen and Van Gils were sprinting for second place behind solo winner Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), in a three-man chase group along with Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5).
Pidcock opened the sprint, and Christen moved from the right-hand side of the road towards the left in an attempt to catch the Briton’s slipstream. As he did so, Van Gils found himself in a narrowing stretch of road by the barriers, aiming to latch onto Pidcock as well.
It appeared that Van Gils and Christen made contact, which seemed to flick Van Gils into contact with a barrier, which in turn, the Belgian squeezed up against the barriers and seemingly made contact with them, which sent his bike into a spin.
Van Gils landed heavily on his right-hand side and looked in major discomfort, but was soon sitting up again.
Christen crossed the line far behind Pidcock to take what he thought was third place, but the race organisers later confirmed that he had been punished by the race jury for dangerous riding.
The Swiss youngster was not just relegated but removed from the results sheet altogether.
“I’d probably have to agree with the commissaires on that one,” said TNT Sports co-commentator Magnus Bäckstedt on the live broadcast.
In keeping with the UAE team’s dominance of the early season, there was another rider ready to replace Christen, with Benoît Cosnefroy, who’d crossed the line in fourth place at the head of the next group, taking his spot on the day’s podium.