🎥 Nils Politt and UAE criticized after 'intimidation' and 'verbal abuse': "I dislike such riders"

First of all: does this so-called blacklist even exist? Nils Politt admitted last year that there was something like that. “You have friends and you have riders you get along with less. In our team bus, there’s a list of riders who are friends and there’s a blacklist. You don’t want your name on that,” he said in a German podcast. After UAE’s actions in this year’s Tour, the topic came up again.

Sporza asked Tim Wellens, Sunday’s stage winner, about the alleged blacklist. “If you’d take a look inside our bus, you’d see nothing on our fridge,” said the Belgian champion. “Well, except for our weights before and after the stage. But no, there’s no list with names of riders who aren’t allowed to go in the breakaway.”

Wellens’ words were clear. But blacklist or not, it was obvious on Tuesday that UAE wasn’t keen on letting many riders go up the road. When a trio finally broke away, Politt personally made sure no one else could bridge across. And he didn’t just limit himself to sitting on wheels, he lashed out at attackers who were unaware they had done anything wrong. Did the tactic work? Not really, as no fewer than 35 riders eventually escaped. But the German did earn plenty of criticism.

The Australian commentators on SBS Sport were unimpressed, calling for a penalty and even a yellow card. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the UCI steps in,” they said. French commentator Thomas Voeckler also joined the discussion: “There’s no worse attitude,” he stated. “It’s often the teammates, not the team leader, who behave like this. I can’t stand riders who try to impose their own rules.”

Politt's behavior was also condemned in the podcast In De Waaier. "Politt went so far as to intimidate attackers. He made it clear to the TotalEnergies riders who tried to attack that they were useless and that they shouldn't even think about breaking away from the peloton. That was pretty ugly, and I think the jury should intervene. I find it very disturbing that you start insulting riders, as if riders from TotalEnergies and Movistar aren't participating in the same race and should just keep quiet. It's ridiculous."

His sidekick Jip van den Bos agreed. "They feel superior and think they can get away with it because they have the best team and the best rider. Someone from the peloton needs to say something, someone they respect at UAE. I'm not familiar with this to this extent, although it is often the case that the team in the lead has a say in the peloton. There is a certain hierarchy in terms of the strength of the teams and the extent of your influence. But what Politt is doing is going too far. It's just intimidation and scaring riders."