Dutch cyclist who ‘headbutted’ Team GB star disqualified and fined | Other | Sport

The Netherlands have been disqualified for “endangering” Team GB’s Ollie Wood in the men’s Madison at the Paris Olympics.

The Dutch team’s result has been scrubbed from the records after the incident at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome as tensions between Team GB and the Netherlands rise.

Jan-Willem van Schip collided with Wood and was accused of deliberately headbutting the 28-year-old Briton on his way past him with 40 laps remaining.

Wood passed a concussion test to return to the track but world silver medallists Wood and Mark Stewart could only cross the line in 10th as Portugal won a surprise gold medal after a chaotic 200 laps.

A statement from the Olympic commissaires late last night declared that the Netherlands had been disqualified for “improper conduct and behaviour that endangered another rider (blow with the helmet).”

They added that Van Schip has been fined £900 (1,000CHF). The Netherlands’ disqualification bumps GB up to ninth although it means nothing for the medallists, with Denmark taking silver and Italy bronze.

Wood was spotted struggling with a swollen knee after the 50km race and said: “He hit me so hard. I felt like a crash test dummy. I will survive. I didn’t see anything. It’s just a bit different when you get hit from behind – you don’t see it coming.

“There are a lot of people resting and riding at any one time. Instead of taking a high line around the track, I thought he’d cut it a bit fine and just ploughed into me.

“I’ve not watched it back. I’m trying to catch my breath. I have no clue, absolutely no clue. All I know is I got hit really hard from behind by literally the biggest rider on the track.

“Everyone’s cognitive functions started to decline rapidly at one given point – you could see there were people having laps of concentration. When there are people all over the track, it is inevitable that people are going to collide wheels or whatever.

“I don’t know what I have done but my knee really hurts and my a*** really hurts. I feel like I’ve been rear-ended by a lorry.”

Team GB cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy, a six-time Olympic gold medal winner, said on the BBC: “It was clearly van Schip’s error there. You are trying to skim past the rider and not go too far on the bend but he misjudged it. He absolutely whacked him on the head.

“I would not be surprised if he is concussed from that. He would not be expecting it either. His body would be loose and completely relaxed and then out of nowhere getting a massive hit. I really felt for him there.”

While Hoy’s compatriot Laura Kenny, herself a five-time Olympic gold medallist, added on the Beeb: “I think it was made worse by the fact I think he was going to look back to go up the track. I was surprised like Chris said that he did not get a warning or even points taken off of him.

“The men’s Madison is pretty much full gas. They would have been going full speed then.”

The collision between Van Schip and Wood came just a day after the Dutch accused Team GB rider Jack Carlin of playing “rugby on wheels”. Carlin veered into Jeffrey Hoogland in the bronze medal sprint final.

Carlin put his hand up to apologise and later took bronze in their best-of-three clash. British coach Mehdi Kordi who works for the Dutch said: “I’d spoken to them before about what happened with (Carlin) yesterday, the rugby on wheels.

“There was headbutting and elbows yesterday. Jack is a worthy medal winner, but with both the incidents that happened today, I was surprised nothing was done. It was quite bizarre.”

Carlin said: “As we came around, we were using two different tyres, front and rear, and as I turned up, a little less grip on the front one than the rear, and my front wheel slightly washed out and I leaned into him.

“I put my hand up immediately, and was like ‘It’s my fault’. Fundamentally I should have known better than to turn up that quickly. I would never do that normally. It was heat of the moment.

“But Jeffrey took it really well. He took his time, which was absolutely fine, and then he obviously decided he wanted second place [starting from the back]. Neither of us wanted to lead it out. But fundamentally I had to after the incident, which is fine.”