Roxane Knetemann apologises after harsh Célia Gery criticism: ‘We share responsibility for that’

Roxane Knetemann has offered what amounted to an apology in the final Tour de France Femmes episode of the In Het Wiel podcast for the comments she had made about Célia Gery a day earlier. The former Dutch professional had described Gery’s move on Kasia Niewiadoma in the closing stages of stage 8 — when the Frenchwoman cut across Niewiadoma going into a corner — as “very, very ugly” and “deliberate”. But the wave of reactions that followed the podcast clearly gave Knetemann pause for thought.

Knetemann said she already had a bad feeling about her comments by the time she put down her podcast microphone on Saturday evening. “After we had recorded the podcast, I realised that a lot of listeners might have thought that, with those strong comments, I wanted everyone to hang Célia Gery out to dry. I immediately had a bad feeling about it, because that was absolutely not what I wanted.”

“Things like this happen seven or eight times during a race, but I thought the way Gery dealt with the yellow-jersey wearer was disrespectful. It wasn’t entirely accidental, although I really don’t believe she wanted to ride her into the barriers. But that still makes it a little disrespectful. At the same time, I realise that a lot of unpleasant stuff is now coming Gery’s way, and she has only just turned 20.”

Knetemann herself also received plenty of reaction to what she had said. “Fortunately, I haven’t received any death threats, but quite a lot has already been directed at me as well. I can imagine what something like that does to a 20-year-old girl. I feel really sorry for her because of that, and she doesn’t deserve it, because she rode an absolutely incredible Tour,” Knetemann stressed.

“The last thing I wanted was to make it personal towards her, because plenty of other people are already doing that. I feel that we share some responsibility for what has happened. We also said out loud that she did it deliberately, when in reality I cannot know that for certain. I hope we weren’t too harsh on Gery. We never want to damage riders.”

Naturally, the latest podcast also spent plenty of time discussing Demi Vollering and her overall victory in the Tour de France Femmes. But the controversy surrounding Gery and Niewiadoma also resurfaced there, as Vollering had emphasised both before and after the final stage that the situation had made her angry. After winning the stage and securing the yellow jersey, Vollering also said she wanted to win for Gery, who had endured “a difficult evening” after the incident and its aftermath.

“I understand that, but ultimately I think her biggest motivation should have been that she wanted to win while wearing yellow. I really hope she wasn’t too preoccupied with feeling that she still had something to prove. When you look at her today... We already said yesterday how incredibly strong what she did with that attack was. The stage she won on Wednesday was also very good. What does she actually still have left to prove?”

“We’ve seen a Vollering throughout this entire year who seems incredibly well balanced,” Knetemann continued. “Perhaps more than ever before. When Vollering is riding like this, she can almost make it look easy, but of course it isn’t. We don’t see all the hours she puts into training or the lifestyle she has to live for it — although she clearly enjoys living that way. That serenity is perhaps what impresses me most of all.”

“Today [Sunday, ed.] was another example: not allowing yourself to get carried away, even though you know Niewiadoma is right there breathing down your neck and is going to attack. The way Vollering absorbed that, then took over herself and eventually made the race hers showed that she knew exactly what she wanted to do. And to be able to recover like that after the Ventoux, including that 800-metre sprint on the Ventoux... Hats off to her. What she is doing is anything but easy. It really is hugely impressive.”