Niewiadoma’s claims about Gery cannot be verified after Tour de France Femmes broadcast misses crucial 150 metres

Stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes will go down as the day Demi Vollering seized control of the race, but Kasia Niewiadoma’s comments afterwards also attracted plenty of attention. Vollering distanced the Polish yellow jersey wearer on a steep ramp, but according to Niewiadoma, that was largely because Vollering’s teammate Célia Gery blocked her.

The journalists gathered at the finish were somewhat caught off guard by a furious Niewiadoma, who told her side of the story while sitting on the ground before, still full of emotion, even seeking out a confrontation with Gery. The French rider was giving interviews after her team leader’s double success of the stage win and yellow jersey and turned around in surprise when Niewiadoma approached. She eventually quickly moved away, with a slight smile on her face.

The problem with the incident was that it could not be verified. The live broadcast missed 2 seconds of the finale, and those were precisely the two seconds in which Gery and Niewiadoma appear to have encountered one another on the road. The television pictures first show the group of favourites entering a bend. By the time the next shot appears, Vollering has already attacked and Niewiadoma is several metres behind.

Before entering the corner, Niewiadoma was third in line behind Gery and Vollering, while after the turn — which led onto the steep ramp — she emerged in fourth position. In the search for witnesses, Franziska Koch, Vollering’s other teammate involved in the finale, could not provide any answers. “I didn’t see the finale because I only came in later. So I can’t tell you anything about that.”

For Koch, the question about Niewiadoma came unexpectedly because she had already completed her work on the previous climb and had therefore dropped away from the group of favourites. The German champion had impressed with a huge turn on the front, which was all part of the team’s plan. “It was all for Demi because we had 15 seconds to make up.”

“You already got ten bonus seconds at the finish, but for her to arrive solo was the dream scenario. It worked perfectly,” Koch smiled. She stressed that the team had needed to lift Vollering’s spirits after stage 7 on Mont Ventoux. “Demi was super disappointed yesterday because winning on Mont Ventoux was a major goal. She wanted the yellow jersey, so we went into this stage with a mission.”

“We all committed to it one hundred percent. It’s really nice when a plan like that comes together.”