Emma Norsgaard won stage six of the Tour de France Femmes after a three rider breakaway, also containing Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka and Sandra Alonso, held off the pursuing peloton in what was the final chance for the sprinters in this year’s race.
In another nail-biting finale, it looked as if the trio would be caught inside the final kilometre, but a pile-up on the final bend killed the momentum of the chase and the Movistar rider accelerated clear to take the stage win. “I’m lost for words,” the Dane said. “It’s been a difficult start to the year and this is the biggest success of my career.”
Meanwhile, the fallout from Demi Vollering’s 20-second time penalty, for slipstreaming her team car on stage five to Albi, continued on Friday morning as the Dutch rider’s sports director, Danny Stam, was excluded from the race by UCI commissaires.
Stam, who responded to the time penalty by calling the UCI referees “ignorant” and added that “they don’t even speak English, that’s how stupid they are”, was kicked off the race and fined 500 Swiss francs, both for his behaviour and his driving, which the commissaires described as “dangerous”.
In a press release, the team said: “Perhaps in the first moment we reacted a little too emotionally to Demi Vollering’s time penalty. Too bad this happened.”
Stam was unapologetic. “I can jump high and low but that won’t change anything. We have to accept it, but it won’t affect our riders.”
Asked why he had been excluded, Stam responded: “Dangerous behaviour in the race. There wasn’t a clear answer from them [the UCI].”
He also confirmed he would not appeal against his exclusion. “I think we are being unfairly punished,” he said. “We know the rule that the UCI is always right. It doesn’t make any sense to fight it.”
Slipstreaming behind team cars, after crashes or mechanical problems, has long been commonplace, but while the rules remain subject to different interpretations, the UCI now takes a dim view of prolonged drafting. “For me, it’s strange also,” Stam said. “It’s our punishment and I cannot change it.”
Asked if he thought other riders would be similarly treated, Stam said: “I hope so – because then the racing won’t be decided by racing any more, but by penalties.”
To some, Vollering and her team had got off lightly. The Norwegian rider, Mie Bjørndal Ottestad, was penalised one minute for the same offence on stage four to Rodez, while Lotta Henttala was disqualified during Friday’s stage, reportedly for holding on to a team car.
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio was among those who supported the UCI’s actions. “I have been on the inside and the outside and there is quite an arrogance in the team,” the AG Insurance Soudal Quick-Step rider said, “so I think unfortunately, when you’re that arrogant, nobody wants to do you any favours.
“They have to work for everything that they get. But rules are rules and nobody is above the rules. Maybe yesterday they thought they were. It’s good to see that the UCI follows through.”
Given that Vollering lost the Vuelta Femenina to Annemiek van Vleuten, by nine seconds, the 20-second penalty could yet prove pivotal in the outcome of the race. Saturday’s Pyrenean mountain stage includes the 12km climb of the Col d’Aspin prior to the stage finish at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet.
