Filip “Bowling Ball” Maciejuk moves to Bora-Hansgrohe
Polish cyclist made headlines when he crashed half the field at the Tour of Flanders
Filip Maciejuk is making a shift from Bahrain Victorious to Bora-Hansgrohe. While he took a commendable second place at the national championship this season, his year was mostly marked an incident during the Tour of Flanders. In an audacious attempt to pass riders to get to the front, he ventured onto the grassy side of the road, but it ended in chaos as he lost control of his bike and caused a significant pile-up within the peloton, leading to a one-month suspension.
After the Flanders incident, riders in the pack were furious with his move. The race referees immediately disqualified from the race.
🤦 What. An. Idiot. #RVV23 pic.twitter.com/1tQYNTRYIt
— World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) April 2, 2023
“The big crash happened just in front of me. It was his own mistake. I don’t know what he was planning to do there,” Mathieu van der Poel said after the race. “They should create punishments for such behaviour; It’s so obvious. It was like a bowling ball rolling into the peloton. It was really not necessary at that point of the race.”
In July, five months after the race, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced a one-month suspension for Maciejuk. The crash took out dozens of riders, some of whom required hospitalization. “I’m really sorry for my mistake and causing the crash today. I hope all those involved are in good health and safe,” he posted on X/Twitter. “This should not have happened and was a big error in my judgement.
“I had no intention of causing this. All I can do now is apologize for my mistake and learn from this in the future. Sorry again to the peloton, my teammates and the fans.”
Maciejuk joins Bora-Hansgrohe, where he will work alongside teammates such as Cian Uijtdebroeks, Jordi Meeus, and the newcomer, Primoz Roglic.
