Paret-Peintre enters motorbike debate: 'If the organisation wants Pogačar to win...'

Valentin Paret-Peintre could not follow up his fourth place at the Tour of Catalonia with another classification result at the Tour de Romandie. He opted instead to go in the breakaway — but came away empty-handed there too. Afterwards he vented his frustration, with some pointed words directed at the race organisation, which he suggested was not playing entirely fair.

Paret-Peintre spent a long time out front alongside Primož Roglič. "It wasn't really a surprise to see Primož at the front — he'd already lost a lot of time in the last two days," he tells CyclingPro.net. "We knew there would be an opportunity. For me he was a good ally in the break. I was a little disappointed when the first group went after ten kilometres. When Red Bull started riding, it became clear that Primož wanted to make the move. That suited me well."

The French climber was part of a strong group: alongside Roglič, Michael Leonard (EF Education-EasyPost), Maxime Decomble (Groupama-FDJ), Roland Thalmann (Tudor) and Quick-Step teammate Louis Vervaeke were also in the mix. It was a powerful group that went clear from the start, but UAE Team Emirates-XRG gave them no room this time.

That left little chance of a stage win. "Unfortunately not. We rode hard, there was good cooperation and we did our best to stay clear. But we couldn't manage to build a decent lead. It's a little disappointing. I hope the motorbikes weren't sitting too close to the peloton, because that was the case in the last two days."

There, Paret-Peintre puts his finger on a raw nerve. At Paris-Roubaix, there were already claims that Tadej Pogačar benefited from the motorbikes after his puncture, and Jakob Fuglsang argued that Mathieu van der Poel would not have won E3 Saxo Classic if the motorbikes had not been riding ahead of him. The Frenchman adds his voice to the criticism. "Right, if the organisation wants Pogačar to win, that's their choice. We've said it often enough, but it is what it is."

It is a notably pessimistic tone from Paret-Peintre, who does not want to come across as entirely negative. He felt considerably better on Saturday than in the preceding days. "The middle section wasn't really in my favour. I struggled quite a bit there. But on the final climb I still felt good. That's a positive," he concludes.