Lance Armstrong analyzed, as every day, in his podcast The Move the last stage of the Women’s Tour de France in which the leader, big favorite and defending champion Demi Vollering suffered a fall that made her lose the overall lead as well as a considerable amount of time.
The Dutch rider fell in the leading group with less than 10 kilometers to go, but none of the 2 teammates riding with her at the time, Blanka Kata Vas and Lorena Wiebes, stopped, and she ended up riding alone to the finish line, losing a minute and a half and the lead of the race to Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma.
Her Team SD Worx – Protime teammate Vas ended up winning the stage while Wiebes was looking for her chances to sprint in the peloton behind Vas. Armstrong didn’t go as far as to call this behaviour unacceptable:
“When you have the team leader wearing the yellow jersey and she’s on the ground you don’t let anyone ride at the front. It was a bipolar day for SD Worx. The big favorite for this Tour de France loses more than a minute and yet wins the stage. Blanka Vas. They only have 2 riders with her, Blanka Vas and Lorena Wiebes. They come back immediately. I don’t care how much someone wants to win a stage, I don’t care how important it is, everyone comes back and they didn’t. To see a yellow jersey riding alone is totally unacceptable.”
