Plugge and Verhaeren brought in by Visma to ease tensions with FDJ-SUEZ, but to no avail: "I think he's a stupid man"

What happened again? Vollering crashed in the third stage of the Tour de France Femmes, which her manager at FDJ-Suez said was due to a lack of respect in the peloton. “It seems that we have lost mutual respect in the peloton over the past year. Many teams and riders push ahead and don't pay enough attention to the safety of others,” said the Frenchman.

That did not go unheard by the competition. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) and Marianne Vos, among others, spoke out, but the fiercest opposition to those statements came from Van Emden. “I have no respect whatsoever for those comments. Let me be very clear: what he is saying is ridiculous,” said the former rider.

“He apparently wants a peloton of eight riders, including Demi, so they can continue riding in a golden cage. Hello, this is a sport, isn't it?” Van Emden asked aloud. “Nothing is happening that can't happen. He's just been influenced by Demi. By Demi's acting. Let's just leave it at that. But it needs to be said clearly.”

Van Emden didn't leave it at that. “Demi really thinks she's in a golden cage. Okay, she's the best cyclist. But that doesn't mean everyone has to make way for her. And Delcourt also says that their lives are being put at risk. That's just not true. You're simply not in touch with reality.”

Before stage five of the tour, this was obviously the talk of the town at the start near Futuruscope. Jeremy Whittle, journalist, captured on camera that Van Emden and Delcourt were talking to each other in the presence of Jacco Verhaeren (Visma | Lease a Bike). Has it been resolved? Not really.

“Richard Plugge and Jacco Verhaeren called me this morning to talk it out,” Delcourt told Sporza. “When I spoke about a lack of respect, I wasn't just talking about the crash. It's been like this since the start of the season; we're not getting that respect.”

It seems that things will not be resolved between Delcourt and Van Emden, despite the twenty-minute conversation. “It's not the first time Van Emden has spoken this way. It's all a joke to him. I think he's a stupid man, and that's all I want to say about it.”

Van Emden himself did not respond to this, but his colleague Jan Boven from Visma | Lease a Bike did. “It seems a bit like a mental game that's being played. We have to be careful and look at ourselves. Pauline (Ferrand-Prévot) and Marianne (Vos) are doing very well, and the same can be said of the team around them. That's what we want to focus on,” said Boven.