“An excuse to annoy me”: a Dutch rider excluded from the Tour of Greece for non-compliant handlebars

Just one step and then it’s gone! The Dutchman Jan-Willem van Schip will not see Athens, the arrival city of the Tour of Greece cycling which takes place this year from May 6 to 10. While he had fought until a few hectometers from the finish for victory during the first stage on Wednesday, the 31-year-old rider was excluded from the event by the organizers.

The latter would have sanctioned him because of the position of a handlebar which would not respect the regulations of the UCI, the international union which governs international competitions. “They found yet another pretext to annoy me,” van Schip reacted after the decision in a post on Instagram.

Already disqualified from the Tour of the Netherlands

The Dutch rider is a repeat offender. In search of the slightest technical innovation that could allow him to ride faster, he had already been disqualified from the Tour of the Netherlands last October due to his saddle being too futuristic and a “bike deviating from UCI rules” according to the authority.

A specialist in track races – he won the title of world champion in the points race in 2019 and the American in 2023, he was excluded from the American (or Madison) event at the Paris Games for… having headbutted his rival from the British team Oliver Wood and having knocked him off his bike.

A few weeks later, during the Ballerup Worlds, he was suspended for five weeks, until February 2025, for his behavior.