The Cofidis team defended their sprinter Bryan Coquard before stage 4 after the Frenchman was given a yellow card and fine for sparking the Tour de France-ending crash of green jersey holder Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The crash came during the dash for the intermediate sprint in Isbergues on Monday and left Philipsen with a broken collarbone. Coquard apologised for the incident on Monday but emphasised that it was not an intentional move against Philipsen.
"Obviously, it wasn't my intention to cause a crash; I didn't want to take any risks. I was clearly thrown off balance; I almost lost my shoe. Even if it wasn't intentional, I want to apologize to Philipsen and Alpecin-Deceuninck. Even if I'm not a bad guy, it's not pleasant," Coquard said before learning he had been punished for irregular sprinting.
On Tuesday, Cofidis general manager Cédric Vasseur told L'Equipe he felt the penalty was unjustified.
"Bryan made no mistake, it's an unfortunate racing incident," Vasseur said. "But just because there is a racing incident, it doesn't mean we have to find a culprit and hand out a yellow card. Bryan is a guy who completely respects his line; he was a victim of a racing situation and miraculously managed to recover, hitting Philipsen, who could get back on track. This kind of yellow card really diminishes the value of the yellow card."
The president of the race jury explained the justification to the team, who were unconvinced.
Pascal Chanteur, president of the National Union of Professional Cyclists (UNCP), also felt the sanction was unfair. "When we look at it frame by frame, he did not seek to provoke anything; he reacted to save himself. I went to see the jury president, and he replied: 'Come, we will see the rider together.' And that's very good,” Chanteur emphasized.
"We are also considering the possibility of introducing a rider to provide safety insights to the jury of commissioners, a rider who brings them expertise, in this case, a former sprinter. We hope that this will be implemented next season."
That won't help Coquard, who is now in danger of being ejected from the Tour de France if he receives a second yellow card.
"Since the problem affects the wearer of the green jersey, we tell ourselves that we absolutely have to react," Vasseur said. "If we give yellow cards to all of the riders involved in crashes, who are also involuntarily involved, we'll hand out twenty-five per stage, and we could all go home after four days. That's just nonsense.
"The situation from yesterday (Monday) could happen again in a week without Bryan being responsible for anything, and it would be very unfair to exclude him from the Tour," Vasseur added. "If a sprinter lives in anxiety about making a mistake, changing lines, or touching another rider, they simply won't sprint anymore.
"If it's going to be like this, there won't be any sprinting in the future, it would serve no purpose. And in such a case, there shouldn't be any intermediate sprints either."
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