- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Surely the train could've been held up for a number of minutes for such a big race?
Ronde van Vlaanderen 2026 ***Spoilers***
- Thread starter Blazing Saddles
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Surely the train could've been held up for a number of minutes for such a big race?
wakemalcolm
Legendary Member
- Location
- Ratho
That's a decent point. The Giro can somehow shuffle the timetable to allow a train to run alongside it, so why can't the Belgians hosting 'the biggest one day race in the world' manage? On a Sunday too. The crossing was closed to the start so it's not like there were huge gaps to deal with.
matticus
Guru
Agree - but last year I only gave Pog an outside shot at best, this time it's incredibly close.
last year I felt he was hanging on for dear life in every secteur; Matty just looked at home (as usual). Pog making an unforced error was almost inevitable.
With Pog's extra mass and experience this year, I certainly won't be betting on this one!
Last edited:
TakeTheHighRoad
Well-Known Member
I've had a bet, but on Filippo Ganna each way at 14/1. Also got Alex Segaert at 150/1 as well!
wakemalcolm
Legendary Member
- Location
- Ratho
TCP's a difficult listen today. 45 minutes of: how should Remco manage his communication strategy?
Their own navals are completely in focus.
Their own navals are completely in focus.
Dorset Boy
Senior Member
- Location
- North Dorset or a mountain
didn't they neutralise the race immediately after to restore any time gaps pre the level crossing?
Doesn't seem beyond the wit of Belgian signal managers to flip a red light on to halt the train, surely.
N0bodyOfTheGoat
Über Member
- Location
- Hampshire, UK
I can't recall where I read about Pog & co red light jumping, but it read like it was discovered after the race, rather than being seen at the time and something being done by the race judges.
matticus
Guru
Just been reading a bit more about this over lunch:
The Beligians are pursuing court proceedings (possible large fines, and short driving bans - no effect on race)
The railways people ARE notified and usually put a gap in the timetable. This seems to have gone wrong (maybe race arrived early?)
(IMO it's VERY expensive to just "flip a red light" when they realise they're in the way of the race!)
The rulebook allegedly says riders should be DQ-ed OR get a Yellow Card. The latter is almost irrelevant unless you got another card in the race ...
Pog got a Yellow Card in the race for littering (he chucked his gloves!)
... to be continued ...
The Beligians are pursuing court proceedings (possible large fines, and short driving bans - no effect on race)
The railways people ARE notified and usually put a gap in the timetable. This seems to have gone wrong (maybe race arrived early?)
(IMO it's VERY expensive to just "flip a red light" when they realise they're in the way of the race!)
The rulebook allegedly says riders should be DQ-ed OR get a Yellow Card. The latter is almost irrelevant unless you got another card in the race ...
Pog got a Yellow Card in the race for littering (he chucked his gloves!)
... to be continued ...
Pross
Guru
He got a yellow card for throwing his gloves to fans on the side of the road? That’s ludicrous, they will have become quite a treasured memento I’d have thought. I saw him do it and he even held on to them for a while seemingly working out who to throw them to.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
There's a serious thing here with all this train business. In the past we used to have riders clambering under barriers with a very real risk of someone getting killed quite horribly. So the rules have to be such that you have nothing to lose by waiting and nothing to gain by transgressing. And they should - theoretically - be very tough on people who do transgress. It's only sensible.
So they set up some theoretically sensible rules but then find that if they actually applied them and DQ'd Pog there would be absolute uproar.
One idea would be more marshals, who step in and start flagging the riders a few hundred metres or more short of the crossing the moment that the lights start to show. Shouldn't be difficult to organise. Or avoid level crossings. Geographically that may be a lot harder.
The idea of stopping a train for the race is daft.
So they set up some theoretically sensible rules but then find that if they actually applied them and DQ'd Pog there would be absolute uproar.
One idea would be more marshals, who step in and start flagging the riders a few hundred metres or more short of the crossing the moment that the lights start to show. Shouldn't be difficult to organise. Or avoid level crossings. Geographically that may be a lot harder.
The idea of stopping a train for the race is daft.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Agree with all apart from last paragraph.
Stopping the train is no different, imo, to closing roads off and stopping car traffic. The latter being probably less disruptive in terms of passenger numbers.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
Now, I'm no expert on trains, so this is mainly guesswork but: Trains take a LOT longer to stop than cars or even lorries. There may be no suitable signal just before the crossing. How do you intervene with the signalling system to get a signal set to red? There will be existing safety protocols that have to be over-ridden and all sorts. So I'd imagine that stopping a train that is approaching a crossing is massively different to closing off roads. Just guesswork mind.
As @matticus said it seems that there is co-ordination with the railways to put a gap in the timetable, but if that doesn't work (looks like it didn't) and a train is on its way then there's only really one thing to do. Wait for it to pass.
I was on a TGV that hit an animal last year. The emergency stop was quite an experience, and took ages. Mind you a TGV goes a lot faster than a little local Belgian train.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
I don't think the race officials picked it up during the race, but there were reports on here, during the race, that people on social meeja were jumping up and down and shouting.
I haven't seen footage of it but if the lights changed as they were near to the crossing moving at speed then fair enough. But if there were officials flagging and lights going (and horns maybe, some crossings have them) and they still carried on then that would be a different matter.
Doesn't really matter for this race, I don't think there was any great injustice or anything. And if riders get fines/driving bans then that's no big deal. It's not like they can't afford it. The important thing is that the officials use this incident to improve safety.
