Cycling: Nils Eekhoff was delighted when crossing the finish line. He had just become U23 world champion in road racing. But a short time later, the Dutchman burst into tears. He was deprived of gold. This means that the Italian Samuele Battistella is the new world champion and the Swiss Stefan Bissinger receives silver.
Eekhoff drove in the slipstream of the escort vehicles
After 174,3 kilometers Nils Eekhoff narrowly prevailed in the sprint of a breakaway group of seven and was happy about the world championship title in the U23 class. But the 21-year-old's joy lasted just over 30 minutes. The Dutchman was then informed by the UCI that he did not even have to appear at the award ceremony. After studying the TV images, the racing jury disqualified Nils Eekhoff. In the first half of the race, after a fall in the slipstream of the escort vehicles, he had moved up the field again. In contrast to what we know from the WorldTour races, no one turns a blind eye to this at the World Championships. The new world champion is the Italian Samuele Battistella. The Swiss Stephen Bissinger advances to second place while the Brit thomas pidcock was awarded bronze.
Nils Eekhoff on twitter:
"The only true U23 World Champion! Strongest Driver of the Day. Can you applaud the UCI for another bad decision?”
? REVISED RESULT ?
Men U23 Road Race
? @SamueleBattist3 ?ﾟﾇﾹ
? @stefbike89 ?ﾟﾇﾭ
? @tompid ?ﾟﾇﾧ#Yorkshire2019 pic.twitter.com/VEeR1xjahp— ? Yorkshire 2019 (@Yorkshire2019) September 27, 2019