Cofidis threatens to sue and bites back after Philipsen controversy surrounding Coquard: "He did not make any mistakes"

“You can imagine that causing the green jersey to abandon brings me absolutely no joy,” Coquard said, fighting back tears after stage three. “Of course, it wasn’t my intention. I didn’t want to take any risks, I was just trying to follow Milan. I don’t even feel like I touched anything. Even though it was absolutely not on purpose, I offered my apologies to Philipsen and Alpecin-Deceuninck. I’m not a bad guy, and this is anything but pleasant.”

Coquard thus found himself in the spotlight, facing criticism from several quarters. Jonas Rickaert, Philipsen’s teammate at Alpecin-Deceuninck, reacted strongly, as did Roxane Knetemann. On Monday evening, Cofidis already posted a statement on X.

“After stage three, Coquard once again emphasized how deeply he was affected by Jasper Philipsen’s crash and subsequent abandonment,” the statement read. “This was an unfortunate incident during the race, but he was in no way responsible for the change in course. As cycling fans and sports enthusiasts, we condemn any form of intimidation or abuse directed at our riders on social media. The team reserves the right to file a complaint against anyone who damages their integrity and wishes to express its full support for all its riders. We also wish all the riders affected by Monday’s crashes a speedy recovery.”

On Tuesday, the team again defended Coquard in an interview with Sporza. Team manager Cédric Vasseur believes the yellow card given to Coquard was unjustified. “This is certainly not justified. Bryan didn’t make any mistakes. It was unfortunately a racing incident. He bumped into the green jersey, but just because something happens doesn’t mean someone is at fault.”

“Look at the sprint, Bryan holds his line,” the Frenchman continued. “He was also a victim of a racing incident himself. There was an initial surge from Lidl-Trek that pushed Bryan towards the Intermarché-Wanty rider. That destabilized him. Somehow, he managed to save himself, don’t ask me how. But he did touch Jasper, who unfortunately crashed.”

The yellow card for Le Coq weighed heavily on Vasseur. “If you’re giving a yellow card for this, it devalues what that card means. We’ll discuss it further with the race directors, and maybe it will be overturned. Because it involved the green jersey, the jury apparently felt they had to react. But if that’s the standard, they’ll be handing out 25 cards a day, and in a few days, we’ll all be sent home,” he said firmly.

Vasseur also gave more context about what happened afterward. “I spoke with Philip Roodhooft from Alpecin-Deceuninck. He told me that Bryan wasn’t at fault. It was an unfortunate incident, and many team managers have sent us supportive messages.” Coquard eventually reached out to Philipsen via Rickaert. “At first, Jasper was angry with him, but even Rickaert hadn’t seen what really happened. As soon as possible, Bryan will contact Jasper directly.”

“But even if he apologizes, it’s not really necessary,” Vasseur continued. “This is sad, but it’s part of life as a rider and a sprinter. You can’t ask Bryan to just sit at the back and not sprint. Mentally, this incident hit him hard. He felt responsible, but after he saw the footage, he was relieved to see he hadn’t done anything wrong.”