Following the closed level crossing incident at Sunday's men's Tour of Flanders, the East Flanders Public Prosecutor's Office has identified 54 riders who could face sanctions, including fines and driving bans.
The riders, almost a third of the 175-man peloton, ran through a red signal at a level crossing with 213km to race. The peloton was split as a result, with most of the group held up before regrouping at the behest of UCI commissaires over the following kilometres.
UCI regulations call for fines, yellow cards, and potential disqualification if riders ignore level crossing warnings and race on. However, in this case, no penalties were handed out to those who ran the red signal, including eventual winner Tadej Pogačar and third-place finisher Remco Evenepoel.
According to Het Nieuwsblad, the riders involved could face fines ranging from €320 to €4,000 and an eight-day driving ban. Out-of-court settlements are also possible.
"Ignoring a red light at a level crossing is a fourth-degree offence, the most serious category under traffic law, which can have severe consequences," the East Flanders Public Prosecutor's Office stated, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.
"Such an offence poses serious risks to the safety of both the riders and third parties. Therefore, these infringements are severely punished."
The investigation continues, while elsewhere Soudal-QuickStep directeur sportif Sep Vanmarcke has said that the fault doesn't lie fully with the riders.
He told Sporza that organisers sometimes can't avoid their races passing level crossings, while on Sunday, riders would have had little chance of stopping in time.
"They often arrive there in a peloton at around 55kph," Vanmarcke said. "The first riders have a good view, but the rest are looking at the back of the rider in front, and sound is often lost too, so not everyone realises what is happening.
"You also saw on Sunday that the first riders clearly started braking, but then you have to make a quick assessment – do I slam on the brakes here and risk them falling behind me? Or do you keep going?"
Vanmarcke said that riders don't set out to break these rules, but rather have to make a split-second decision on what to do at that moment.
"As a rider, you make that choice based on your own ability and with safety in mind. It is certainly not the riders' intention to mess things up or deliberately break the rules.
"You can't expect riders to know every train schedule by heart, can you? Anyone with a certain authority, such as the police and the organisers, can also take responsibility and intervene safely. If you do that in time, no one is put in danger."
Vanmarcke concluded by saying that the various stakeholders involved – including Belgium's National Railway Company (NMBS) and the rail infrastructure manager Infrabel – should work together to avoid similar incidents in future.
"There was no malicious intent, and in a race, it is not easy to always make the right decision," he said.
"So let us work together to find a better solution, because cycling effectively has a role model function. Such a situation could occur again in the future, so we might as well seize this moment to change something collectively."
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