Cyclo-cross rider Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) was disqualified from a race and fined after he stomped on a fellow competitor’s bike.
The Belgian champion planted his foot onto the back wheel of Fenix rider Ryan Kamp’s bike after the pair crashed together at Saturday’s Exact Cross event in Beringen, Belgium. Following the incident, a race official pulled Iserbyt from the course, and he was later fined 100 CHF (£89.09).
The initial collision came on the fifth of eight laps of the muddy circuit, when Kamp and Iserbyt went shoulder-to-shoulder on a sharp downhill section. Iserbyt crashed into a wooden pole, with Kamp falling beside him.
Writing on X afterwards, Iserbyt said he was overcome with a “rage of anger” that led him to stomp on his opponent’s bike.
Kamp had to run back to the pits, holding his bike which appeared to have a broken rear derailleur. The Dutchman ended up finishing 22nd, three minutes and 50 seconds behind the winner, Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions).
Shortly after the race finished, Iserbyt shared an apology message on X: “I understand the decision of the jury to dsq me today in Beringen. My acts after the hard crash were made in a rage of anger and don’t belong in this sport. For this I want to apologise to everyone involved. Now I’ll focus on the positive things and look forward to the next races!”
Here’s the reason Eli Iserbyt was disqualified from Exact Cross round 1 in Beringen today 😳 pic.twitter.com/EoajX4VHHOOctober 12, 2024
Iserbyt also gave an interview to Belgian publication HLN, in which he said his reaction was “not necessary”, but came after something Kamp had said to him. Asked what the comments were, Iserbyt said: “I’m not going to repeat that, but yes it was dirty.”
The duo were teammates at Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal for five years until Kamp joined Fenix – a racing arm linked to his road team Alpecin-Deceuninck – earlier this year. According to Iserbyt, tension between the two had been “simmering for a while”, with incidents of “cutting up” and “pushing” last season.
Kamp was also approached for comment about the incident in Beringen. “The smartest thing is to say nothing. Worse things will come of it,” he told HLN.
“We were riding next to each other in the corner, nothing more happened. There was contact, but that's part of cross, I think. I'm not going to say anything more about it. It's fine,” Kamp added.
