Watch: Ian Stannard and Arnaud Démare among riders disqualified for riding under closing level crossing in Scheldeprijs

#SP18 #Scheldeprijs

Here the moment they skip the railroad crossing. pic.twitter.com/EPctA48av3

— Brain on Wheels 🚲 (@BrainOnWheels) April 4, 2018

Ian Stannard (Team Sky), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) are among 35 riders disqualified from the Scheldeprijs in Belgium on Wednesday after riding across a railway level crossing as the gate was closing.

Under UCI race rules, riders must stop at a railway crossing when the warning lights are flashing before it closes.

However, a large group of riders rode under the barrier in Krabbendijke as it was closing and were subsequently eliminated from the race by commissaires.

The group was quickly caught by the race commissaires on motorbikes and in an official car. Despite being signalled to stop, some riders continued past the commissaires while others could be seen arguing with officials.

Davide Martinelli (Quick-Step Floors), Christian Knees (Team Sky), Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) and Kris Boeckmans (Vital Concept) were also among those disqualified.

>>> ‘I don’t endorse their decision’: Riders voice anger at commissaires over Scheldeprijs level crossing disqualifications

All of the riders involved were in a second peloton after the race was split apart by crosswinds.

Defending champion and pre-race favourite Marcel Kittel was with his Katusha-Alpecin team-mates in the first peloton and completely avoided the incident.

In addition to being disqualified from the race, the riders caught going under the level crossing barrier were fined 100CHF each.

Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Floors) went on to win the bunch sprint at the end of the race.