Martin Elmiger (IAM Cycling) finished in 5th place in yesterday’s Paris-Roubaix, but seems to have been the top finisher of those who didn’t cross the level-crossing when the barriers were coming down.
In previous editions of the race, those who crossed level crossings have been disqualified, but this did not happen yesterday, so Elmiger has a valid case for being declared the actual winner of Paris-Roubaix.
In 2006, race commissaires decided to disqualify Leif Hoste, Peter Van Petegem and Vladimir Gusev from second, third and fourth place after they had ignored a level crossing with 15 kilometres remaining to continue their pursuit of winner Fabian Cancellara.
However, it was declared after yesterday’s race, that there would be no sanctions for those who broke the level crossing. This was apparently due to the sheer number of riders who had broken the rules yesterday with the commissaires unable to reliably identify all of them.
Was the race not neutralized until the pack reformed ?