Railway crossing incident splits peloton in half but Pogačar and Evenepoel avoid possible disqualification early at the Tour of Flanders.
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An incident rocked the Tour of Flanders early. (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Updated April 5, 2026 08:21AM
Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel avoided possible disqualification Sunday in the men’s Tour of Flanders after a railway crossing incident early in the race.
It happened at about 200km to go when defending champion Pogačar and several UAE Emirates-XRG teammates, Evenepoel, and dozens of others were caught out at a railroad crossing.
The peloton was split into two with red lights flashing and the safety bars coming down.
Other favorites, such as Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, were forced to stop behind the closed crossing. A regional train passed through, and the race quickly resumed.
Race officials ordered the front group to slow down and allow the chasing riders to regain contact.
A breakaway up the road by more than three minutes, including American Luke Lamperti, was not impacted, and its advantage was held under race protocol.
The incident still triggered debate, however, because the rules of the race say that riders must stop if the lights are flashing red and safety bars are down at a railway crossing.
Riders can face disqualification for blatant violations. Het Nieuwsblad reported that local prosecutors said they will review the incident.
There were no clear TV images of the front of the incident and it was not immediately apparent what happened when.
Pogačar and others were allowed to keep racing, in part because the incident came so early in the race.
Fines and sanctions could be issued later.
Riders have been disqualified after finishing a race, however. In the 2006 Paris-Roubaix, Peter Van Petegem and Leif Hoste were DQd after ignoring railway signals.
Medio pelotón se queda parado por un paso a nivel, la otra mitad sigue adelante…
y el coche de carrera abronca a los que no han parado en las barreras, entre ellos Pogacar, que con el reglamento en la mano podría ser descalificado.
Una de las imágenes de #RVV26. pic.twitter.com/IfsKBu6ZC6
— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) April 5, 2026