At the 2025 Tour de Guadeloupe, Tenniglo Niels and Huub Van Kapel of the RC Jan Van Arckel club team gave a master class on how to save your race if you get dropped. Hidden behind a support vehicle, they re-entered the peloton around 40 km from the finish. It’s certainly a clever move if you had a bit of an off day — I mean, we all do, right? Just chill a bit then rejoin the lads when the tough stuff is over.
Unfortunately, not everyone agreed with their tactics. Locals filmed it and, well, it spread online pretty dang fast. And it sounds like the organizers weren’t too thrilled either. Where is the empathy for fellow riders, amirite?
Frédéric Théobald, president of the Guadeloupe Cycling , expressed his outrage to Guadeloupe la 1ère.
“I have two videos to back up this big charade, because that’s exactly what it is. It’s very serious!” He added that the race officials kicked the riders out during the event. “They kept going, but they were disqualified.” (Not exactly applauding the Dutch dudes’ ingenuity, is he?)
Race officials also seemed a little ticked by it. Besides being disqualified mid-race, they were fined 100 Swiss francs each and docked 20 points in their UCI rankings. Well, at least they tried. Maybe next time, do it where there aren’t so many people around. (Just a tip if you’re considering trying it.) Also, don’t upload it to Strava. And only attempt it at a race without transponders. Or, you could “lose” your transponder, maybe.
The incident adds to more drama at the race, which has been marred with crashes.
Here’s a handy little instructional video if you’re interested.
#TDG😱😩🚴🏻♂️🚴🏻♂️Tour cycliste de #Guadeloupe 2025 : “C’est très grave !” 2 coureurs exclus pour avoir rejoint le peloton sans faire tout le parcours de la 2e étape sous les yeux du commissaire ➕d’infos👉🏾 https://t.co/zAQuIEpYbY pic.twitter.com/35cVeIxYK8
— Guadeloupe la 1ère (@guadeloupela1e) August 4, 2025
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…