I suppose you might forget what pedals you use riding Arenberg in the middle of P-R... And if that's in fact shimano prototype, he may have thought it's compatible with standard shimano cleats
brain fade in bike races is a real thing for sure, but theres a whole bunch of decisions that were made before the here take my bike MvdP bit happens that results in that.
like did Alpecin not check the cleats would be compatible, why are they accepting prototypes in one of their biggest races of the year and not saying hey all our team must be equally kitted out, MvdP was surely their prime rider for this race, you dont leave your main rider out there with teammates who cant share bikes because theyre trying some different kit, when you know mechanicals are part and parcel of this race, and the cars (unless your UAE) arent going to be able to quickly help you, and if you do still do that you drill into the whole team, swap wheels, not bikes.
they go on about how they practice for this race so much, and yet they dont practice stuff like this, dont plan properly for stuff like this and it costs them races ultimtately.
