After his GC leader crashed in a heap on the floor, the frustration was clear in Stephen Delcourt’s voice. “There’s a real lack of respect in the peloton,” the FDJ-SUEZ manager told the media. “Today it’s the fault of the riders.”
The pile-up came on a tight, right-hand bend. Barrelling towards a sprint finish on stage three of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the teams grappled against each other to take the corner first. Then came a touching of wheels, and Demi Vollering, caught up in the melee, was one of more than ten riders who hit the ground.
Battered and dazed, the Dutchwoman suffered neck and knee pain, and was checked twice for concussion. She would later be cleared to continue the race, but Delcourt feared otherwise at the time.
“What we saw today is the individual behaviour of someone who takes too much of a risk in a corner, and could destroy Vollering’s Tour de France,” the FDJ-SUEZ manager said.
“It’s not normal the attitude of many teams and many riders. They are disrespectful. We lost the respect in the last year in men’s and women’s cycling. How is it possible everybody wants to play with their life like this?”
Delcourt’s comments have since been the subject of tension between teams at the Tour de France Femmes. Is there really no more respect in the peloton? Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Jos van Emden hit back the claim.
“What he’s saying is completely ridiculous,” Van Emden told De Telegraaf and Het Nieuwsblad, asked about Delcourt's comments. “He seems to want a peloton of eight riders with Demi in it, riding in a golden cage. Come on, this is the sport, isn’t it? Nothing happened that shouldn’t have. He’s just been influenced by Demi, by her dramatic behaviour.
“Delcourt saying people’s lives are being put at risk – that’s just not true. That’s not reality. If you think that, maybe you should do another sport.”
Delcourt and Van Emden were seen having a heated discussion among the team buses ahead of Wednesday’s fifth stage. Speaking to the French press, Delcourt clarified that his initial frustration wasn’t only in reference to Vollering’s crash, but safety in general in the peloton.
For other team directors, though, the fighting for position at this year's Tour has brought nothing unruly or out of the ordinary. “Everyone has the same right to be there. It’s not that some riders have bigger rights or less rights,” Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto sports director Adam Szabó told TNT Sports.
“I think, if you have a strong team and you can position your team well, or your protected leader well, then it’s up to the strength of the team.”
Marianne Vos, who has been in the peloton for 20 years, shared a similar opinion.
“It’s just a sport where you have to fight for position,” the Visma-Lease a Bike rider and current yellow jersey wearer said. “I don’t think maybe it’s not about respect, but it’s about everybody fighting for every centimetre.
“Unfortunately, things can happen like [the crash on stage two]. Of course, it’s the riders that fight for the position that make it dangerous, but it’s not really something that’s about respect.”
As the race now heads for the mountains, the simmering tension between the GC teams will start to boil on the road. The war of words between bosses looks to be over. "Let's let the performances on the road do the talking," Delcourt said.
