The Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate, 500 meters from the UCI Road World Championship circuit, was buzzing with activity on Friday night as riders and staff were forced to deal with the disqualification of Nils Ehoff's U23 road race world title.

While Ehoff was upstairs with his parents, Dutch federation officials came and went, and distrust was in the air. Coach Adrienne Hermantel, who was behind the wheel of the car in which Ehoff was drafted to lose his title, was in the lobby to interview Cycling News.

"The reaction is pretty angry. We had a great race. Nils had the best race of his life. I saw a great race with a beautiful winner, and then the UCI made the decision to pull him out 'for the good of cycling.' I was hurt." [If they follow the rules, it's the right thing to do, but sometimes it's good to look at the rules of cycling. Maybe they wanted to make an example. It was not a fitting end to this beautiful race."

Eekhoff crashed with just under 130km to go and dislocated his shoulder. After "putting his shoulder back in" and getting a new bike, Eekhoff took up a position behind the team car and walked to the back of the main group of cars.

The UCI eventually announced that Ehoff had drafted "a few dozen seconds," but Helmattel told Cycling News that it was actually "a little over two minutes."

"It's true. After the crash, I drove him behind the car, but I did it the right way. I didn't put him near the car with the bottle. I put him back in the caravan and then he went back to the group on his own."

Ehoff and Hermantel claim that at the time they did not think they were doing anything wrong; even when the UCI delayed the podium ceremony, they assumed that they were considering a photo finish for the bronze medal. Drafting is not legal, but it is an everyday occurrence for riders trying to rejoin the pack after a crash or mechanical. There seems to be a gray area as to how much drafting is a violation.

"I don't know what is too long. I don't even know the rules. What I understood - and now I'm completely wrong - is that after such an incident, a rider can be returned to the caravan, and then the rider has to move up the order himself," Hermannstell said. 'But obviously that is not allowed. If he was riding behind another team car there would be no problem, but now there is a problem."

Asked if he thought it was unfair, he replied: "If the rules are the rules, he should be removed, but we're not at the point where we can accept that yet.

Hermantel also complained about double standards, revealing that he had learned that Tom Pidcock of Great Britain, who won bronze in fourth place after Eickhoff's disqualification, had done the same thing.

"I was really furious about the decision, but I calmed down and went to the judging panel again. I was really upset because I got information that Tom Pidcock (3rd) was also behind the wheel after the crash. I don't want to play Pidcock down, but if Nils is eliminated, will Pidcock be disqualified as well?

"I also asked why they didn't eliminate him sooner since he had such a huge impact on the race. If the commissaire in the van was watching the live video, he said, 'Okay, for two minutes, there is a racer behind the car.

"If he was second I would have no problem with it, but when you are the world champion, you look at the picture and eliminate him.

Hellmantel's emotions were clearly running high, and on several occasions he had to stop himself from saying things he thought he might later regret. His final words were in response to the precedent he feels the UCI is setting for itself in this weekend's elite road race.

"Now, whenever a rider is behind the wheel of a machine, you have to take action. Let's see what happens on Sunday."