Pro cyclist disqualified for riding on cycle lane has national title reinstated seven months later – and hits out at governing body’s “unacceptable incompetence”, threatening legal action

Danish pro cyclist Johan Price-Pejtersen is yet to pin on a race number in 2025 but he’s already chalked up his first win, after being reinstated as Danish national time trial champion – seven months after he was stripped of the title for riding on a bike path.

In June, 25-year-old Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, then racing for Bahrain Victorious, beat Lidl-Trek’s Mattias Skjelmose by just two seconds over 41km in Herning to clinch his maiden Danish elite time trial championship.

However, in a dramatic turn of events, as he made his way to the podium to collect the Danish champion’s jersey, Price-Pejtersen was notified by the Danish Cycling Union (DCU) that he had been disqualified and stripped of his newly acquired title.

That controversial decision was made after footage emerged of the former U23 world time trial champion making use of a protected bike path, next to the pavement, during the closing stages of the race, as he passed Movistar’s Mathias Norsgaard, prompting second-place Skjelmose’s Lidl-Trek team to appeal.

📺 🇩🇰⏱️ Johan Price-Pejtersen DQ

🥈→🥇 Mattias Skjelmosepic.twitter.com/AbO7marPck

— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) June 21, 2024

Price-Pejtersen was also docked the 50 UCI points he gained for winning the national championships and handed a fine of 200 Swiss Francs (around £180).

According to the UCI’s regulations, “it is strictly prohibited to use sidewalks, paths, or cycle paths that do not form part of the course as defined in article 2.2.015, separated by kerbs, verges, level changes or other physical features.”

At the 2018 Tour of Flanders, that particular rule was memorably utilised as Team Sky’s road captain Luke Rowe was disqualified from the Belgian classic, after the Welsh rider was captured on the television coverage weaving through spectators standing on the cycle path at the side of the road, a move he claimed he was forced to make to avoid crashing.

> Luke Rowe "gutted" at Tour of Flanders disqualification

Price-Pejtersen’s case, however, proved more controversial than Rowe’s detour through the crowds, due to the UCI’s caveat that a rider can only be disqualified for availing of the bike path or pavement if it results “in serious cases of advantage, endangerment, repeated infringements, or aggravated circumstances.”

Despite his Lidl-Trek team appealing the result, Skjelmose took to Instagram following the race to express his “great sympathy” for his compatriot, even offering Price-Pejtersen his gold medal and jersey, “to recognise his achievement, so that it does not go down in history as a pure annoyance”.

However, over seven months after the drama in Herning, earlier this week, the Danish Cycling Union announced that, after considering Price-Pejtersen’s case, it had decided to overturn his disqualification, crowning the 25-year-old – albeit belatedly – Denmark’s national time trial champion, demoting Skjelmose once again to second.

Price-Pejtersen’s UCI points penalty was also reduced from 25, though the DCU stated he will still have to pay the original fine.

In the aftermath of the decision, Skjelmose – who wore the Danish champion’s jersey in time trials during the second half of the 2024 season, including once at the Vuelta a España (during the final TT in Madrid, the 24-year-old was instead wearing the white jersey of best young rider) – told Danish news agency Ritzau that he only found out about the reversal through the media.

Skjelmose on the first stage of the 2024 Vuelta, wearing the Danish champ’s jersey he’s now handed back to Price-Pejtersen (Unipublic/Cxcling/Toni Baixauli)

“I only know about the new decision via the media, but regardless, I have not been involved in the proceedings since the race, and I will not do so now,” he said. “I am currently focused on the season that is about to start and have no further comments on the decision.”

Price-Pejtersen, however, had a lot more to say, and in an Instagram post accused the Danish Cycling Union of “arrogance” and “incompetence”, and of “robbing” him of seven months in the champion’s jersey, potentially hurting his career prospects within the sport – even threatening the governing body with legal action.

“On June 21st, I won the Danish time trial championship by crossing the line first, followed by an unjust disqualification,” the Alpecin-Deceuninck pro said on Instagram.

“Today, January 28th, 2025, that decision has been overturned. Seven months later! Seven months where I have not been able to wear the [champion’s jersey] and have been robbed of some of the most precious time a cyclist can have.

“The seven months have been mentally tough. The Olympic spirit is the supporting pillar of a complicated and unconventional life as an athlete, and for that very reason it is all the more painful to witness its gradual erosion by the arrogance and indifference of the DCU.”

Price-Pejtersen after winning the U23 world time trial title in Bruges in 2021 (Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)

Describing the saga as “devastating for the DCU’s already shaky trust and integrity”, Price-Pejtersen continued: “Therefore, my lawyer and I will also expect serious internal consequences from the DCU. No one can benefit from such incompetence from both the DCU and the commissaires in question, if the integrity of the sport is to be protected.

“There is no doubt how big of an impact it has had on me as an athlete. Being in a contract year with a bit of a headwind, this result was like a fresh breeze blowing in my direction. However, only for a short while. The opportunities the Danish championship could have given me will never come again. This is unacceptable and we therefore expect compensation from DCU.”

In response to Price-Pejtersen’s post, the DCU’s acting director Jens-Erik Majlund criticised the rider for venting his frustrations with the governing body and its volunteer commissaires in public.

“We fully understand Johan Price-Pejtersen’s disappointment with the course of events. It is an unfortunate case in every way,” Majlund said in a statement.

“We do not find that taking the dialogue through the press and social media is in any way appropriate for either the case or Johan. In addition, Johan uses language that is not in anyone’s interest.

“The Danish commissaires are all volunteers who go to the Danish cycling races weekend after weekend. They don’t deserve to be publicly criticised like that.

“As mentioned, we take note of the ruling and now ask that everyone, including Johan, consider the case closed, and we therefore have no further comments on the case.”