“We were riding at full speed towards that bend when things went sideways,” German rider Tony Martin explained on the Lotto-Jumbo website.
“There was no way to avoid it. We couldn’t react in time, and the guys in the front slipped away on the wet road surface.
Sports directors Addy Engels described the incident as “far from ideal” and that tour organisers said a paddling pool accident was to blame.
“[The tour organisers] went to the house where the water came from. That is 500 metres from the course, on a steep slope that goes straight onto the roundabout.
“There was a child playing in a inflatable plastic swimming pool that broke.
“As a result, according to the organisation, all of that water flooded down onto the road.”
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