'Unprecedented' - Chaos at Tour of Flanders as train crossing splits peloton with Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel impacted
Published 05/04/2026 at 12:34 GMT+1
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The surprise closure of a level crossing caused a split in the peloton during the Tour of Flanders as Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team found themselves with a gap in front of riders including major rival Mathieu van der Poel. The chaotic scenes were described as "unprecedented" by TNT Sports' experts as the early breakaway's lead stretched to more than five minutes.
Confusion reigns as peloton split in half by railway crossing at Tour of Flanders
Video credit: TNT Sports
An ”unprecedented” situation at the Tour of Flanders saw the peloton split in two because of a level crossing closure, leaving Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG colleagues clear with Alpecin–Premier Tech's Mathieu van der Poel among those stuck behind while waiting for a train to pass.
With around a quarter of the race distance covered, the breakaway already boasted a lead of more than three minutes but they were able to continue to pull away as the rest of the chasing pack were left static.
It appeared that race organisers, including director Scott Sunderland, drew alongside the portion of the peloton that had already made it through to ask them to maintain a relatively slow pace so as not to exploit the situation.
Speaking on TNT Sports as he watched the action unfold, pundit Adam Blythe had sympathy for UAE.
"This is ridiculous. Mikkel Bjerg is here, UAE have made it through, Pogacar is in the front,” he said. ”Van der Poel, as we know, is the only favourite behind and the regulators, commissaires drove through those barriers as they came down, splitting the peloton.
"If I was UAE now and they are not stopping the breakaway - remember they are not slowing down the break, so that gap's growing. The train is going through, so the gap is about a minute at the minute between these two groups in the peloton split.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
”If I was UAE, I'd be kicking off massively. 'We've made it through because we're in this position, now you're making us slow down because we're the only ones doing the work on the front to wait for people behind.'"
Alongside Blythe on commentary duty, Matt Stephens added that he felt Pogacar would prefer to have won the race in normal circumstances, rather than because of a stroke of luck in his favour.
He said: ”I don't think Tadej Pogacar would want to win this bike race because of a zebra [level] crossing coming down... It's not UAE's fault.”
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”We’ve never seen it happen. It's unprecedented, as far as I'm aware, in a big race like this.”
The breakaway had pulled more than five minutes clear by the time the peloton had grouped back together.
Pogacar is aiming to retain the title after winning the event in 2025, the second time in his career he had won the race, with Van der Poel searching for a record fourth win.
Stream the 2026 cycling season, including the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
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