Benoot and Hermans held for hours at US border after training ride takes unexpected turn

The Belgian pair were stopped at a small border crossing and ended up spending several hours there after attempting to enter the country without the required travel authorisation.

Alec Segaert revealed the story after returning from the World Championships in Montréal, where the Belgian team had spent part of its preparation in Bromont, around 80 kilometres east of the city and within riding distance of the US border.

Benoot and Hermans decided to make the most of the location by incorporating a brief visit to the United States into one of their training rides. There was only one problem. They had not arranged an ESTA before reaching the border.

“They were stopped because they hadn’t filled in an ESTA beforehand,” Segaert explained on the Vals Plat podcast. “You need one even when you cross by bike.”

What might have looked like a minor oversight quickly turned into a lengthy interruption to their training.

“The customs officers weren’t exactly amused,” Segaert said. “They were kept there for a few hours and had to fill in all kinds of documents. In the end they weren’t allowed to ride another metre and had to turn back to Canada.”

The location only added to the unusual nature of the episode. According to Segaert, Benoot and Hermans had arrived at a particularly quiet border post.

“It was a really small crossing,” he said. “During the two or three hours they were there, hardly any cars came through.”

Segaert joked that officials also had to make sure the two professional cyclists were not involved in anything more sinister.

“They weren’t smuggling anything,” he laughed. “But apparently they had to check they weren’t part of a cartel or something like that.”

The pair eventually returned to Canada without completing the American part of their planned ride.

Benoot later saw the funny side. His title for the activity on Strava summed up the failed excursion rather neatly: “Mexico was already in sight.”

The episode came during a long stay in Canada for several members of the Belgian squad ahead of the Montréal World Championships. Belgium enjoyed early success through Remco Evenepoel, who claimed his fourth consecutive world title in the individual time trial.

The road race proved less rewarding. Evenepoel and Wout van Aert had arrived among Belgium’s main hopes, but neither was able to challenge for the medals in a chaotic race won by Brandon McNulty. Evenepoel finished 12th, 25 seconds behind the American, while Van Aert came home 28th at 5:11.