Tour de la Guadeloupe is one of the most exotic races you’ll find on the cycling calendar. But with on-going 74th edition, the reputation of this race is more than respectable with 10 action-packed days of racing in the Caribbean holiday paradise. The stage 2 had an exciting uphill finish in\u00a0Trois-Rivi\u00e8res, but rather than the victory of experienced Polish rider Jakub Kaczmarek (Mazowsze Serce Polski), an incident from earlier phases of the stage became viral on social media.<\/p>\n
The main protagonists – two Dutch cyclists representing team\u00a0GRC Jan van Arckel; Niels Tenniglo and Huub van Kapel were at one point of the stage caught far behind the race lead as a result of crashes and mechanicals. But instead of abandoning, the two had a more cunning plan. As the race came to a local circuit, the two hid between parked cars and waited for peloton’s next passage to sneakily rejoin the bunch. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the two riders, their actions were caught on camera by spectators and both were swiftly disqualified from race.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Then a friend of mine told me it was the riders with numbers 74 and 75,” Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Th\u00e9obald, president of the Guadeloupe Islands Regional Cycling Committee, explained to the local website\u00a0La Premi\u00e8re. “Shortly after that, I received two videos that confirmed this big charade.”<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t mince his words when speaking to the press. “This is very serious!” he said. “The commissaire excluded them during the race. They continued, but they were excluded.” As per UCI rules, both riders were fined 100 Swiss francs and lost 20 UCI points, but more importantly, it’ll take an effort to regain respect in the bunch again.<\/p>\n Tenniglo Niels and Huub Van Kapel were disqualified from the Tour de la Guadeloupe for not completing the full course.<\/p>\n After crashes and punctures on a loop section, they hid behind cars and rejoined the peloton after it had completed the loop.pic.twitter.com\/Py0RBn72MS<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) August 4, 2025<\/a>
\nInterestingly, this is not the first such incident to have occured at the lower level of races. Two years ago, 11-time Albanian champion Ylber Sefa was outraged after his opponents appeared out of nowhere on the final lap<\/a> to steal his deserved victory. Jury turned a blind eye back then. Understandably, the 34-year-old, who is still active, has not returned to race on home soil since.<\/p>\n