Zonneveld criticizes FDJ-Suez team (management): “If I were them, I would go back to the drawing board"

In his analysis at In De Waaier, Zonneveld questions the French team's tactics. “It would have been interesting if Vollering and Niewiadoma had taken turns to break away or if they had let Juliette Labous ride ahead and then let Vollering jump after her. None of that happened.”

“No strategy was used to try to drop Ferrand-Prévot. They were really only focused on dropping Gigante,” he continued. “Even when Gigante was already two, three, four minutes behind. It was completely unnecessary for Vollering, but they kept doing it anyway.”

“The best way for Vollering to win the stage was in a sprint. She has sprinted well this week,” Zonneveld continues. “What Vollering does then... not waiting for a sprint, but going for it herself on the last climb. I just don't get it. I think Ferrand-Prévot thought, "Okay, I can do this too." I can push a little harder. Unbelievable.”

“I don't think Ferrand-Prévot was as good as yesterday, she was really exhausted in the last kilometers,” Zonneveld analyzes. “There was a great chance to beat her in the sprint, but I just don't understand how you can think that way. And I don't understand why the team management didn't do things differently.”

“I think it's incredible how FDJ-Suez rode this week and how little they did with the numerical advantage they had in many stages,” concludes Zonneveld. “They didn't win a single stage. In the end, they finished second in the Tour and in several stages, and they won the mountains and team classifications, but for the best team in the Tour by far, I think that's not enough.”

“If I were them, I would go back to the drawing board,” the analyst concludes. “I think these are really huge mistakes, and it's not the first time.”