A radiant smile, a heart drawn with the fingers and a short text in English. “We keep with a smile (and we laugh a bit about yesterday’s masquerade)”! This Monday morning, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot published on her Instagram account (followed by nearly 650,000 followers) a photo of her all smiles. Far from the grimace and the black look that the French was displayed Sunday after the arrival of the first stage of Vuelta female.
The Spanish cycling race could indeed not be bad for the champion and her Visma-Lease A Bike team. So the first step was a team time trial in the streets of Barcelona, the Dutch formation had to start private by two runners (out of seven). The latter could not appear in time on the starting line and were forced to join their partners later.
The images of the departure of the team are as amazing as they are eloquent. We see the first of the two “latecomers” arriving on the podium of departure when his teammates were rushed. The second is part via the access route provided for cars. Visma-lease A Bike finally finished 10th in the stage, 21 seconds from the winner of the day, Lidl-Trek.
After the arrival, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot had not been able to hide her frustration and had pointed out the concern in a story on Instagram. “Did the jury sleep by checking our bikes?” We were twenty minutes in advance for the control of bicycles and despite that, two of us could not realize it on time. So much effort and preparation for nothing. How can the organization of a large tour be so amateur? »»
Visma-lease A Bike filed a complaint
A feeling shared by his team which filed an official complaint with the UCI jury immediately after the stage. “I addressed myself directly to the UCI jury after the stage,” said Jacco Verhaeren, the team manager, in a press release. They also recognized that the situation had not been managed properly. We are playing in elite sport, and this is one of the major calendar races. We congratulate the legitimate winners of today, Lidl-Trek, for their victory. We also want to emphasize that sport is a matter of fair play for all teams. Unfortunately, this was not the case today, and we regret it deeply. »»
The origin of this imbroglio would be due to the late arrival of the Movistar team (less than fifteen minutes from the start, which earned it a fine) and to amateurism – to use the expression of PFP – of the organization, which, despite tense deadlines, took its time to inspect the bikes of the runners of the Visma -Lease a Bike.
In the end Ellen Van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) endorsed the first red jersey of this female vuelta. The FDJ-Suez, led by Juliette Labous and a half Vollering, points to six seconds. Marianne Vos, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and their partners accuse 21 seconds delay. “We focus on the next steps, because everyone has worked hard for that,” concluded the recent Winner of Paris-Roubaix Female on her social networks.
The second stage of the Spanish Tour takes place this Monday between Molins de Rei and Sant Boi de Llobregat (99 km).
