Remco Evenepoel pushed British rider Ben Turner in order to gain an advantage, and has now said sorry

Updated 13/04/2022 at 21:26 GMT

The 22-year-old was seen pushing Britain's Ben Turner to gain an advantage early in the race, but then found himself blocked off as he sprinted to try and secure a podium place. Benoit Cosnefroy and Tim Wellens were involved in the incident, with Wellens declassified following his approach to the sprint finish, but Cosnefroy was adjudged to have raced fairly and held on to second place.

'If I don't brake I crash!' - Evenepoel unhappy with Cosnefroy after tight finish

It was an incident packed day on the roads of Belgium for home cyclist Remco Evenepoel after he was involved in a number of flashpoints during the men’s event of De Brabantse Pijl.

A coming together with British rider Ben Turner saw the 22-year-old receive a hostile reception from pundits after he pushed Turner while jostling for position.

Eurosport pundit Adam Blythe said Evenepoel should have been kicked out of the event for his actions, and called him a “spoilt little brat”.

Brabantse Pijl

'If I don't brake I crash!' - Evenepoel unhappy with Cosnefroy after tight finish

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13/04/2022 at 16:18

Reflecting on the incident, Evenepoel took to Twitter to apologise to Turner.

As well as commenting on the tough weather conditions, the Belgian rider tweeted, "I want to apologise to Ben Turner for the incident during the race. It shouldn’t have happened."

Then, after teenager Magnus Sheffield sprinted away from the leading group to take victory, Evenepoel was involved in a fight for a podium place.

Coming into the final stretch, Benoit Cosnefroy and Tim Wellens changed their lines and blocked off Evenepoel, causing him to skid.

Wellens, who originally took third, was demoted to ninth, but Cosnefroy held onto his second placed finish, while Evenepoel lost all momentum and was left in sixth position.

Evenepoel hopes for retrospective punishment for Cosnefroy.

“I hope they rewatch it because it was really dangerous”, he said.

'Spoilt little brat! He doesn't treat riders with respect!' - Blythe slams Evenepoel for push

“If I don’t break, I crash, and we all crash. We’ll see what they do with it, but in the end I didn’t have the legs to win today.”

Speaking after the race, Evenepoel was gracious in defeat, saying, “Ineos, what can we say, strongest team. Three guys in the front. When they let one guy go like this, and you jump behind and they jump on the wheel, you cannot really do anything. It was really hard.”

Riders had to battle with heavy rain throughout, and Evenepoel admits it was “really slippery”, especially the cobbled sections, where he said, “It was really hard to stay up the bike. It was really a big task to stay up on the bike and don’t crash. On the cobbles I wasn’t really comfortable. Epic day.”

Victory for 19-year-old Sheffield has seen a new star of the sport introduced, but Evenepoel thinks the youngster has his team to thank.

“I’m not sure the strongest rider won. Probably yes, because if you can still attack like this you are really strong but the strongest team won that’s for sure. If you’re three guys out of seven you are the strongest team."

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