🎥 Evenepoel hands out (new) yellow card to Van Poppel, but criticizes punishment: "They want to make a statement"

The yellow and red card system has been active in cycling since this year. During the Tour de France, quite a few riders have already been punished with yellow cards and relegations. But whether all those cards are justified… there’s a lot of doubt. That’s certainly the case for lead-out riders Edward Theuns and Danny van Poppel.

Theuns, the Lidl-Trek lead-out for Jonathan Milan, was penalized for a maneuver in Monday’s infamous intermediate sprint, where Jasper Philipsen crashed hard and had to abandon the Tour. “Yellow? Because I don’t have a balloon to lift me up out of the way in the peloton when other riders come at me,” was the Belgian’s sarcastic response to Sporza.

Before stage four, Theuns went to take it up with the jury. “Before the intermediate sprint, I was on Jonathan Milan’s wheel. I got pushed left by Jasper Philipsen, right by Anthony Turgis. I was sandwiched and barely managed to stay upright. I braked, even though I didn’t really need to in that situation. I did it anyway to avoid a crash and I get a yellow card. I don’t understand it, and many of my colleagues don’t either.”

For Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Van Poppel is the man tasked with delivering his sprinter in the best possible position. However, his sprinter Jordi Meeus crashed in the finale, leaving Van Poppel alone. After stage three, he spoke to this website, mainly discussing the chaos and numerous crashes. “It’s not normal, but that’s the Tour.”

Ahead of stage four on Tuesday, Van Poppel shared his opinion his yellow card. “Was it deserved? I don’t think so. I see it as a racing incident. It’s a bit frustrating how things went yesterday,” said the Dutch champion to NOS. “It’s the Tour; they want to make a statement. With the smallest things, if someone crashes, they immediately punish you. I agree cycling needs to be safer, but this isn’t the way. This is not the solution.”

Van Poppel, who shared a funny moment with Remco Evenepoel during stage four, now has to be careful: another yellow card means he’ll be kicked out of the Tour. “Of course, I’ve thought about it. It’s annoying. But I’m not going to change. It’s my job to be there, and sometimes you have to take risks. And if not, then I’ll just be at home for the birth of my child, that’s nice too.”