‘A red hand behind the barrier’ - Norsgaard calls for tracking devices after Kragh Andersen crash

Speaking on the Forhjulslir podcast, Norsgaard described an attack on the descent from his Lidl-Trek teammate that briefly looked race defining.

“Even if it had been dry roads, I wouldn’t have dared to ride as fast as he did,” Norsgaard said. “He rode so f*cking fast.” He compared the move to a horror film and said that after three corners Kragh Andersen already had “half a minute” on those behind.

Norsgaard said he believed the attack was heading toward a stage winning situation, before everything went silent.

“There was an hour and a half before we found out that he had crashed,” he said, adding that the team assumed Kragh Andersen had bridged to the breakaway.

The most troubling part, Norsgaard argued, was what happened next. He said footage suggested Kragh Andersen looked in control before entering a corner where he went off the road and down the mountainside, while the motorcycle following the move did not stop.

“The motorcycle doesn’t stop. It just waits for the peloton. It is completely indifferent,” Norsgaard said.

Kragh Andersen only realised no one was coming to help once the peloton had passed. Norsgaard said his teammate climbed back up onto the road by himself and that Lidl-Trek sports director Sebastian Andersen later saw “a red hand waving from behind the barrier.”

Norsgaard said the incident should have serious consequences, arguing the failure to stop “should be sanctioned” so severely that the operator would “never be involved in cycling races again.”

The episode also fed into a wider safety debate, with Norsgaard calling for mandatory tracking devices in UCI races so riders can be located immediately if they stop moving.

“I am 100% convinced after this season start that it should be introduced as quickly as possible,” he said, stressing it should not be framed as something for spectators at home, but as a step taken first and foremost for safety on the road.

After the race, it was communicated by Lild-Trek that Kragh Andersen suffered a muscle contusion, though it has not yet been communicated when he will return to action.