Van den Berg reveals he was at the center of the 'beer scandal' with Visma | LAB during the 2023 Tour: "But they had beer on their table too"

It all started when Plugge was asked by French media about doping accusations aimed at his team leader Jonas Vingegaard, a sensitive topic, of course. The Dutchman deflected, emphasizing professionalism instead. “We look at what others are doing. On the second rest day, we were in the same hotel as a French team and saw some of their riders drinking half-liters of beer. That’s poison, especially when you’re tired. At the start of the third week of the Tour-the most important week-you have to be very careful about what you eat and drink.”

Groupama-FDJ fired back angrily. Team boss Marc Madiot, never one to hold back, went for an all-out war. “It’s pathetic. Every rest day we share a moment of camaraderie between riders and staff. The staff might have a beer, but not necessarily the riders. And even if they did, it’s not half-liters. I was at the table and there was nothing but water. What Plugge said is just cheap and petty.”

Of course, it was all smoothed over later, but now, two years on, Van den Berg reveals that he was the rider with the beer. “It was an incredibly tough stage with nonstop attacks from the start. To my right was Sepp Kuss, and just ahead on the left, Nathan Van Hooydonck. Kuss hit a spectator, and the three of us went down, hard. I had to fight just to finish the stage. It was a complete disaster. I’ve never suffered so much in my life. I sat on the ground for fifteen minutes afterward without saying a word to anyone.”

It was the day before the rest day, and the Dutchman was completely spent. “My friend Quentin Pacher, who’s also riding the Tour now, came to my room with a beer and said, ‘It’s all going to be fine, just drink this and relax. Tomorrow’s the rest day.’ So there I am, standing on the balcony with a beer in hand… I look down and see Richard Plugge and Merijn Zeeman sitting there. They turn around and see me holding that beer and I even waved at them.”

And that’s how it happened: Plugge raised the alarm. “Plugge must’ve thought, ‘This is my moment to say Jumbo-Visma is doing everything right, and those French teams clearly aren’t taking it seriously,, they’re drinking beer on the rest day.’”

Van den Berg, now retired, had already patched things up with Wilco Kelderman. “He was annoyed when this story came out. And I don’t want to get Wilco in trouble now, but he told me they had beer on their own table that night too. The whole team had a beer together.”