Célia Gery has commented publicly for the first time since being accused of foul play by Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney at the Tour de France Femmes, saying "it was really difficult to go through".
The French champion, teammate of eventual winner Demi Vollering, was confronted by their chief rival, Niewiadoma-Phinney after stage 8, with the Canyon-SRAM racer accusing Gery of 'blocking' her at a key moment in the finale.
"I lost all respect for them," said Niewiadoma, who added: "I feel like if they want to compete, they should compete fair play."
Latest Videos FromCyclingnews
Vollering and the FDJ United-Suez team management came to the defence of Gery, but the rider herself kept silent on the matter. She did not speak to the media at the start of the final stage the following morning and has remained silent on social media since the race began.
However, comments have now surfaced via the French cycling website Direct Vélo, who spoke to Gery after the podium ceremony in Nice on the final day, but only published their story on Tuesday afternoon.
"It was really difficult to go through, but hey, voila, that's how it is," Gery said.
FDJ United-SUEZ had indicated that Gery had received a wave of abuse following the incident, with team director Lars Boom even talking of death threats.
"She got a lot of nasty messages, which makes me always very angry, especially because she's such a young girl still," said Vollering. "We should always protect young people from these kinds of stupid actions from people who don't think and just send a message."
Gery did not address the impact of the wider reaction beyond that brief comment she made. However, she did indicate that she could look back on the race with positive feelings.
"It really does me good to finish in this way," she said after Vollering had soloed to the stage and overall victories on the final day, which also put a nail in the coffin of any speculation that the incident had an impact on the final result of the race.
"It does me even more good and gives me even more pleasure that Demi won given what happened alongside it.
"I'm really happy," she added. "It was a superb experience with the victory at the end of it. It's the dream scenario."
Support our unrivalled coverage of the Tour de France Femmes and women's cycling by subscribing to Cyclingnews. In return, you get unlimited access to high-quality journalism, with breaking news, race analysis, and expert insight from inside the women's peloton. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.
