“Should Be Relegated”: After a Deliberate Close-Call That Could’ve Led to a Dangerous Crash in the Ongoing Tour de France, Fans Demand Strict Action for the Cyclists Responsible

The Mecca of cycling competitions, Le Tour de France, is underway from the Basque Country of Bilbao, Spain. After a thrilling two stages of the competition, the grand cycling race has reached its 3rd stage now, and the competitors are turning it up a notch. However, a stiffening of competition also means cyclists pushing each other hard to get an advantage over their opponents. Sometimes, it happens literally, like in the case of Wout Van Aert and Jasper Philipsen. After witnessing the same, fans of cycling have gone on furious rants and are demanding some strict action be taken against those responsible.

The 3rd stage of the Tour de France has just concluded, and the competition has a stage winner, Jasper Philipsen. However, it was during the race that Philipsen came excruciatingly close to Van Aert, almost pushing him out of the race. That did not sit well with the sports world.

An almost potential clash in the Tour de France could’ve made things ugly

A Tweet by Procyclinglover went, “The sprint of the third stage of the Tour de France seen in slow motion #TDF2023”, showing the exact moment Philipsen snuck up close to Van Aert and the two almost collided. It continued, “Philipsen & Wout van Aert almost touch each other. Philipsen executed, unwillingly, a dangerous trajectory, perhaps from relegation”.

The post even ended with an open-ended question, “What do you think?” and the fans had a lot of serious thoughts on the matter. Philipsen was the one who was nearly 10cm from the barrier and tried to force Van Aert out, whether willingly or unwillingly. Given that he won the stage race after that spectacle, and Van Aert finished 5th, fans have a stronger reaction to what they believe deviated from fair play.

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The stage race had a hairpin turn, right after its 2km mark from the start, and a road, both curved and tilted uphill, to end the race. Van Aert looked high-spirited a day before but eventually failed to finish in the top 3. Fans are now calling out the cyclists for their actions.

In order to avoid any future re-occurrence, fans demand strong measures for the cyclists

Despite the stage race finishing and the winners being declared, fans aren’t letting go of the moment that could’ve been deadly for both cyclists, very easily. Here’s how some of them reacted:

This fan is worked up over the incident and wants them to be made an example of, in order to avoid any such future happenings.

Although very risky, this fan acknowledged that such things happen often.

A fan, while fine with the maneuver, is still, however, unsatisfied with how Philipsen went about it.

One fan completely supported Wout Van Aert and believes that it’s only due to this close-call incident that may have dissuaded him from winning.

While there are still 20 more stages or races left in the whole competition, there’s still a great chance for Van Aert and his Jumbo-Visma team to make a comeback and win. Another Jumbo-Visma team member, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard also had an unsatisfactory result on stage 1 but is adamant about making a comeback later on in the race. With 20 days more to go and many more close contests to come into the race, the Tour de France might have something up its sleeve.

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