The day after the devastating crash that, on the final straight of the Clásica Jaén, cost Maxim Van Gils a pelvic fracture and several months away from racing, Jan Christen (responsible for the deviation that caused the Belgian's tumble in the three-rider sprint for the podium) publicly apologized to the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider through a dedicated post on his Instagram account.

"Yesterday at the Clásica Jaén was a bittersweet day. I'm very happy to have contributed to Tim Wellens' extraordinary team victory, but for me personally, with the unfortunate crash near the finish line, it wasn't the finale I had in mind," wrote the twenty-one-year-old from UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

"I want to apologize to Maxim: I tried to take advantage of Tom's (Pidcock, ed.) slipstream when he started sprinting and didn't see him coming on my left. It was an unfortunate incident that can unfortunately happen in races. What I know for certain is that I would never intentionally put another rider in danger. Right now, I'm experiencing many conflicting emotions and I sincerely wish Maxim a speedy recovery, hoping we can compete for a victory again in the future."