There was chaos and confusion at the end of the first stage of the Algarve return on Wednesday (19), when most of the platoon went the wrong way when approaching the finish line.
The front group was following the TV cameras mounted on motorcycles and ended up taking a deviation from the official final stretch, eventually crossing the finish line on the wrong side of the road.
Commissioners could be seen pointing to the other side of the road, but it was too late. However, they noticed the mistake, and Italian Filippo Ganna raised his arms in celebration after crossing the finish line first.
Some cyclists who had followed by were seen raising their bikes on the viewers’ barrier in an attempt to end the right side of the road.
Unbelievable! Cyclists were wrong on the way to the goal on the Algarve!
– Look from the invisible (@alhalha_invisive)
However, the race organizers later decided to cancel the first stage, which had taken the cyclists by a 192.2 km route, because “the sports truth did not prevail in the end.”
Bizarre scenes on the back of the Algarve, induction of the organization’s motorcycle, cyclists took the wrong side of the track, so Filippo Ganna was the first to cross the “right side” arrival.
– Cycling ball (@Plote_)
“All the technical information was clear that the corridors should turn left on the last roundabout,” said Sérgio Sousa, director of the Algarve Tour. “The fact is that some of them went to the right on a track parallel to the finish line. It was a wrong decision of the platoon, but it is clear that we did not do enough to avoid this result, which we regret a lot. ”
“I could see that in the last kilometer the deviation was not blocked by the officers and, of course, when cyclists are coming, they follow the motorcycles, as they always do,” Haller told Eurosport after the stage.
“For me, it’s quite ridiculous because we suffer for 190 kilometers to put us in a perfect position. It’s basically all for nothing. This is a joke, it is really something that needs consequences for officers, for organizers. They can’t always blame cyclists because we’re in the heat of the moment, it’s a running situation, so it’s very frustrating. ”
