The general manager of BMC Racing Team says they will “explore every legal option” after Greg Van Avermaet was involved in a collision with a motorbike during the Clásica de San Sebastián yesterday.

Van Avermaet was leading on the final climb of the race when the motorbike came up behind him. The front of the bike came into contact with the bike’s rear wheel, causing the BMC rider to crash out of the race.

With Van Avermaet unable to continue because of damage to his bike, the race was won by Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge). It was Yates’s first win in a WorldTour event.

In a statement from BMC, general manager/president Jim Ochowicz said the incident “was caused by pure negligence, and cost the team millions of dollars of lost publicity”.

“Greg was robbed and the BMC Racing Team was robbed when this happened,” added Ochowicz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWDjzRf_G4

Ochowicz’s full statement reads:

“Greg was robbed and the BMC Racing Team was robbed when this happened. I am appalled that this could occur in a WorldTour race.

“This is the second time this year we have had an incident with a local organizer of a WorldTour race where they have acted in a scandalous fashion. The UCI has been nowhere in this to resolve the problem. This comes back to safety issues in races where the local organizer of WorldTour events and the UCI are negligent in providing a safe racing environment.

“This was not a sporting incident. This was caused by pure negligence, which cost the team millions of dollars in lost publicity. Therefore, we plan to explore every legal option available to us.”

Watch: Secrets of the Toolbox with BMC Racing