The series “Tour de France au cœur du peloton” goes behind the scenes of the clash between the Groupama-FDJ and Jumbo-Visma teams. The boss of the latter had accused the riders of the French team of “drinking big beers” during the Tour.
After three weeks of racing, bodies are tired and minds warm up more quickly. In the last days of the 2023 Tour de France, a little dig from the boss of Jumbo-Visma ignited the powder. In an interview with “L’Équipe”, Richard Plugge – who defended himself against any doping practices in his team – declared: “We also look around us at what others are doing. For example, we were with a French team at our hotel during the rest day. We saw runners drinking large beers. Alcohol is poison, and especially when you’re already tired, you’re going to be even more tired. » The Dutchman does not mention the Groupama-FDJ team but the connection is quickly made.
«VOur paws will hurt even more thinking about these assholes»
The Netflix cameras were at that moment alongside Marc Madiot, manager of Groupama-FDJ, a team in need of a stage victory in this 110th edition. His riders are seated at a table and he is addressing them, as can be seen in the documentary series “Tour de France au cœur du peloton”. “I saw things in the media, on Twitter (X’s former name) or elsewhere that displeased me to the highest degree. It’s pitiful, pathetic,” he says.I don’t like it when your honor and honesty are touched. For me, tomorrow’s motivation is there, you’re going to show who you are. We’re going to answer on the bike. When your legs hurt, your legs will hurt even more when you think about those assholes, when you think about what he said about you.” The endearing manager is then at the table, his face closed, a beer in his hand from which he takes a sip “to Richard’s health.”
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“Only the truth hurts”
“It’s a wasted ball,” laments leader Thibaut Pinot. This is my last Tour de France. I don’t need that kind of statement if I want to have a beer or not.” Later, facing the camera, Marc Madiot returned to the controversy: “I want to reassure him that all the management drinks beer but the riders don’t drink beer. I didn’t like it because it suggests that we don’t work well, that we’re clowns.”
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In the same setting, Richard Plugge did not change a comma in his statement: “I would not take it personally if I were Marc Madiot. The funniest thing in this story is that they denied drinking beer.” And the Dutchman drove the point home: “Only the truth hurts, so maybe he has something to reproach himself for after all. Why make a big deal out of it, they have the right to drink beer. We drink beer too, but in Paris when the race is over.”
This controversy has been, unintentionally or not, an excellent counter-fire for the boss of the Dutch team, while the overwhelming domination of its rider Jonas Vingegaard on the Grande Boucle had rekindled the fires of suspicion around doping.
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It is also a battle of words between two teams that are complete opposites: the giant Jumbo and its big means and the more modest Groupama FDJ. “I optimize from the means that I have,” explains Marc Madiot about his team. I want to show Richard Plugge that real cycling is about the man, the effort, the goosebumps, the communion with the people around me.”
He had this goosebumps the day after the controversy, with Thibaut Pinot who said goodbye to the mountain during the last stage at altitude. “It hasn’t always been easy, I think it gave me a few gray hairs, but in the end it’s not the results that make the difference,” he said upon arrival. . The winners are lines on a piece of paper, Thibaut will leave something else, thrills, things that we believe will never happen, and which arrive with him. »
