There was drama at the UCI Road World Championships when a mechanical mix-up caused his bike to be deemed illegal by race officials and a "devastated" Belgian junior rider.

Jens Verbrugghe, son of Israel Premier Tech director Rick, competed in the junior men's time trial at the World Championships Tuesday, but on an unfamiliar bike belonging to his national federation.

He initially entered the time trial with a 53-tooth chainring.

According to Belgian press reports, his Lapierre bike passed preliminary checks by officials, but during a final check 10 minutes before the start, an illegal gear was discovered. He scrambled to procure a Ridley bike and finished in 26th place. [Belgian technical director Frédéric Brochet said he was "completely devastated."

"It's unfortunate that people look at us as if we have something to hide. But that is not true," said Brochet, according to "Het Laatste Nieuws" (opens in new tab).

"There is no such thing as malice in my opinion. I really don't believe it. Jens is 17 years old and is completely devastated."

The "Het Laatste Nieuws" (open new tab) states.

There was confusion about how the illegal gears were set on Verbrugge's bike.

Verbrugghe is a member of the Groupama-FDJ junior team, and Brochet suggested that they may have been set up by the team in advance of next year, when the UCI will lift restrictions on junior gear.

"In an ideal world, this would be inevitable, but our mechanics have assembled 120 bikes here. We assume that the bikes will arrive in the right gear," Brochet said. [No offense intended. The rider, his team mechanic, and our staff. We don't intend to blame anyone.