Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo) has been disqualified from the Tour of Norway after he elbowed and then punched Sport Vlaanderen’s Preben Van Hecke.
You can see the incident in this video uploaded by FloBikes.
“You cannot punch a competitor and particularly not in the face,” a race referee told Norway’s TV2. “It’s not good for the reputation of cycling and he cannot take the law into his own hands. So we have taken the decision of taking him out of the race.”
Boom’s initial take on the incident saw him refer to Van Hecke as an ‘idiot’.
“He was on my wheel and I almost crashed, so I got a little hot headed. I don’t want to crash, especially when an idiot does something like that.”
Boom subsequently apologised, although not to Van Hecke specifically.
I want to say sorry to all cycling fans, the organizer of the Tour of Norway and all other cyclists for my wrong reaction in today’s incident. https://t.co/d63Mxj2vu9
— Lars Boom (@lars_boom) May 17, 2018
Somewhat bizarrely, Van Hecke said that Boom’s punishment was too severe. “Sometimes this happens in a race,” he said. “He did not hit my face, but in the hip.”

5 thoughts on “Video: Lars Boom disqualified from Tour of Norway for punching another rider”
Quote:
So, didn’t apologise…
Not an excuse, but I wouldn’t
Not an excuse, but I wouldn’t exactly call that a ‘punch’. A ‘shove’ maybe
I can’t find the 5 cool
I can’t find the 5 cool handbags article for when I get into a situation like this.
How much damage can you do from a thrown punch on a moving bike at a moving target?
If he were a squirrel with a knife, that would be different.
don simon wrote:
Best punch to deliver most power in those circumstances is an uppercut, doesn’t unbalqnce you as much nor indeed the recipient.
A backswing punch to the chops is a bit more stealthy.
For the really determined/initiated a decleated roundhouse is a winner, bonus damage points if you miss with the usualcontact point of the carbon shoe as a cleat scuffed on the cheek can be quite nasty, particularly speedplay.
More of a punch than the
More of a punch than the “waft” by Nacer Bouhanni, so I hope people give Boom as much crap as he got.