Manon Bakker (Crelan-Corendon) and Jinse Peeters (De Ceuster-Bouwpunt) had a physical in-race dispute that landed them with disqualification rather than a high placing in Parkcross at the Exact Cross C2 contest in Maldegem.
Crossing the line in 10th position after five full laps, Bakker shook her head as a race official directed her to the course exit. Peeters followed the same dejected path 30 seconds later, also pulled from making further progress.
Just moments before, Bakker and Peeters went shoulder-to-shoulder in a short, slippery section of corners, both riders exchanging hand slaps while trying to avoid crashing. The live broadcast for Exact Cross caught the altercation on video, which race officials reviewed and deemed both riders would be penalised, resulting in the disqualifications.
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Bakker entered the slippery section hugging the railing on the inside with a slight lead over Peeters and Lauren Molengraff (Charles-Liégeois Roastery CX). The Dutch rider grabbed the barrier with her left hand to avoid hitting the bottom metal legs and hold her line, but Peeters was then next to her shoulder, and the two seemed to tangle for an instant.
A sharp shove from Bakker caused Peeters to unclip and lose her balance and she narrowly avoided crashing. As Peeters put her foot down, she reached across to Bakker and slapped at the back of her head. While the Belgian rider remounted her bike, Bakker accelerated away followed by Molengraff, while Peeters was left to chase.
After the final two laps were completed, minus the two unruly riders, Molengraff crossed the line to claim 10th place.
At an Exact Cross race in October in Beringen, Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel Clementines) was disqualified for stomping on Ryan Kamp's (Fenix-Deceuninck) bike during the race. Iserbyt withdrew from the race after the sixth lap and served a three-race suspension.
It was not known if additional penalties would follow for Peeters and Bakker.
Bakker has five podiums this season, finishing 15th in Liévin in the elite women's race at Cyclo-cross World Championships. Peeters has six podiums, three of them victories, and was not at Worlds.
