Favorite, Demi Vollering fell heavily this Monday on the 3rd stage of the Tour de France women on Monday.
The 3rd stage between Gacilly and Angers was certainly marked by the victory in the Sprint of Lorena Wiebes, but also by the fall of the peloton in which half vollering found himself 3.5 km from the finish. In a bend, part of the runners went to the ground and the Dutch of the FDJ-Suez training underwent the consequences. If his arrival, six minutes after Wiebes, has not changed anything in the standings due to the five -kilometer rule where all the runners finally finished at the same time as the winner of the day, the consequences are elsewhere.
On the one hand at physical level. Half Vollering is affected by the left buttock and the knee and will have to take exams to know if it can continue the adventure on the Tour de France women 2025. On the other hand, this fall did not please the director of the tricolor training, Stéphen Delcourt, very angry with the peloton at the end of the stage. Announced as the favorite of this large loop, the Dutchman is now uncertain for the future.
“There is a real lack of respect in the peloton”
Shocked, physically touched, Demi Vollering finished the race alongside Amber Kraak and Juliette Labous, her teammates at the FDJ-Suez. It will be necessary to wait for the results of the medical examinations to really assess the severity of the fall. For Stéphen Delcourt, boss of the French training, the peloton lacked respect for the Dutchman, as well as the runners in general. Significant risk taking in a turn, which may not have happened to arrive. The director of the FDJ-Suez did not hide his anger after the race.
“I just would like to emphasize that there is a real lack of respect in the peloton. We said it on the Male Tour de France too, but we saw behaviors of certain teams where there is no more respect for leaders, there is no more respect for certain sprinters and I would like to come out because with ASO (the organizer of the race) we said this morning: the athletes themselves create dangers. Annoyed by the situation, Delcourt believes that the behavior observed on arrival in Angers could have destroyed the Tour de France of the runners. No doubt marked, too, by the fall of vollering, the director wanted to remain positive. “We will remain positive, but we really have to be careful, we don’t play our life anyway here,” he concluded.
