Tom Dumoulin uses beach pebbles to explain Niewiadoma incident: ‘Is it sporting? Not really’

Demi Vollering won Stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes and took over the yellow jersey, but Kasia Niewiadoma was furious afterward. She claimed that Célia Gery, a teammate of the stage winner, had deliberately blocked her. It was difficult to make out exactly what had happened from the initial television pictures, but more footage later provided greater clarity. Tom Dumoulin analyzed the images and explained exactly how the incident unfolded.

FDJ-SUEZ set the pace in the finale of Stage 8 and waited until the very last moment, when the riders reached a short but brutally steep section of climbing. Everyone knew what was coming, which was why Niewiadoma had already positioned herself on Vollering’s wheel. However, because of a delay in the television pictures, the attack itself was not properly shown. Suddenly, the European champion appeared on screen with a gap of several meters.

According to Niewiadoma, Gery deliberately forced her toward the barriers in the final corner before the climb. Dumoulin explained what happened with the help of a few pebbles from the beach. “Gery is on the inside, Niewiadoma is on the outside,” he said on De Avondetappe. “Niewiadoma was on Vollering’s wheel, and Gery, who takes the inside line through that corner, really does squeeze her quite hard toward the curb. Looking at these images, it certainly doesn’t look very sporting.”

The French champion’s move was very much a tactical decision, Dumoulin explained. “Gery swings off the front before the corner. She wants to get onto Vollering’s wheel, so Vollering can start her attack with a gap and Niewiadoma has to come around Gery. That’s where it goes wrong and where all the controversy starts. Because Niewiadoma is thinking: this is my wheel, I’m definitely not moving over for you. They go through the corner together carrying too much speed.”

And that is where things went wrong. Gery was already on the inside of the corner. “She can almost do nothing other than squeeze Niewiadoma toward the curb.” So should anyone be blamed for what happened? Dumoulin found that difficult to judge. “What eventually happens is a little unfortunate. Niewiadoma is definitely disadvantaged by it. Is it sporting? Not really. Is it genuinely unsportsmanlike, and do I think it’s something you simply cannot do? No.”

The result of the move was that Niewiadoma had to close a significant gap to Vollering, and on the final steep meters she eventually cracked. Over the kilometers that followed, she ultimately lost 18 seconds and, with it, the yellow jersey. The manner in which it happened is likely to remain a talking point for some time. “You could also say that the fairest way would have been for Gery simply to stay on the front, Vollering to attack, and then we just see who is strongest.”