Two former professional cyclists, Laurens ten Dam and Thomas Dekker, have said that they were arrested and jailed ahead of Unbound Gravel this year.
The pair claimed on their their LiveSlowRideFast podcast, as reported by Wielerflits, that they were arrested for "indecent behaviour" in the town of Marietta, Kansas, after taking a shower in a car park on a training ride.
They ended up spending a night in jail ahead of the race, and paid bail charges of $185, although according to them, they will not face a court appearance in the US.
"A day after Thomas landed, we were neatly handcuffed and driven in a police car to the prison in Marietta," Ten Dam said. "What had happened? We drove to our regular supermarket and arrived at the parking lot... That supermarket was simply razed to the ground. There had been a tornado. As a result, the supermarket and department store simply disappeared."
"We were going to have lunch at the Mexican," the former Rabobank and Giant-Alpecin pro continued. "It was still quite early. We had completed a three-hour training ride and were now quite hungry. It was half past one in the afternoon. I wanted to take a little cold shower and Thomas throws water over me. We stood between the car doors, taking a shower. Suddenly I hear a man screaming very loudly. But we just wanted to freshen up for the Mexican.
"I actually felt it coming. There were a lot of people in that restaurant. Suddenly there were five police cars. The man who had shouted at us was also there and said: 'You should go to jail for this'... They first focused entirely on Thomas. He was searched and then put in handcuffs. So I thought: s***. Then I had to turn around and I was also handcuffed."
"I didn't dare do anything," Dekker, who used to race for Rabobank and Garmin-Sharp, said. "I had five guns pointed at me."
Ten Dam was known as a solid domestique over a 15 year career, which ended in 2019, which included helping Tom Dumoulin to victory in the 2017 Giro d'Italia. The Dutchman went on to forge a gravel career, moving to the USA.
Dekker has a more glittering palmarès, winning Tirreno-Adriatico in 2006, but later admitted to using EPO, a subject he documented in his 2016 book The Descent.
Having been arrested, Dekker and Ten Dam say they were taken to jail: "We were given something to eat, under a blanket, because we were already cold," Dekker said. "It all took a very long time and fingerprints were taken. We also had to put on an orange suit, we were really inmate Laurens and inmate Thomas. It's really not allowed there. It did clash with my values."
"The indictment stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles like two gay cyclists," Ten Dam claimed.
At Unbound Gravel, Ten Dam finished 50th, with Dekker in 42nd, behind the winner, Lachlan Morton.
