I just watched it again, he goes off the front, goes to the left, looks back, sees Bauhaus, De Lie, Mosschetti, etc. and goes (slightly) to the right to give them nowhere to go. Bauhaus doesn't let him take Girmays wheel, so Askey goes slightly to the left again and tries to block the others.
This is simply impeding, and blocking purposely so against the rules. I have no idea why you're defending this. Even if you forget about impeding he's also not holding his line or lane. You're wrong when saying he's riding in a straight line. This is just asking for crashes.
Exactly what Van Poppel always does. I agree that is isn't as erratic, but that does not mean it isn't wrong.
Also again, while dangerous (I agree!) De Lie has nowhere to go, he has to go the left cause he gets bumped by mosschetti to his right (and that isn't Mosschetti's fault either, that just happens in sprints), he has no choice but using his shoulder, or just 100% breaking which would make him and other crash too.
But ok, let's agree to disagree i guess