Demi Vollering said Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney “is not the one who can really say something about [fair play]”, after the Canyon-Sram rider accused Vollering’s team-mate of blocking her on stage eight of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Niewiadoma-Phinney confronted FDJ United-Suez‘s Célia Gery beyond the finish line of Saturday’s stage, accusing her of forcing her into the barriers when Vollering launched her race-winning attack. “If [FDJ] want to compete, they should compete [with] fair play,” Niewiadoma-Phinney later said. “Honestly, I lost all respect for them for that.”
Ahead of the final stage in Nice, Vollering hit back at Niewiadoma-Phinney during an interview in the mixed zone.
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“She really attacked my team-mate, and I think it’s not so fair to do that so high in emotions,” the yellow jersey wearer told TNT Sports.
“I didn’t forget about what she did when I was on the ground two years ago, so if she’s speaking about fair play, then I think she is not the one that can really say something about that.”
The incident Vollering referred to came on stage five of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, when the Dutchwoman crashed with 6.5km to go, and lost her yellow jersey to Niewiadoma-Phinney, who sprinted to second place on the stage.
The Polish rider said at the time that crashes are “an unfortunate part of racing”. She went on to win that edition of the Tour by four seconds.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Vollering also came out to the defence of her team-mate Gery on Sunday after the 20-year-old received abuse on social media following the blocking accusations.
The incident sparked a debate among cycling fans as to whether Gery had committed any wrongdoing. Some social media users insulted the French champion and called for her to be disqualified from the race.
“I find it really sad that we attack each other like this after the finish line,” Vollering said of Niewiadoma-Phinney’s comments.
“Célia never did something on purpose. It was also a very tricky corner – there was a pothole in the middle – so there was only one line to take, and Kasia chose to go into the corner next to Célia.
“I feel really sad about what is happening at the moment and how much shit Célia gets over her. She’s still so young. We really should protect her. It’s a very nasty world out there on social media, and it really worries me sometimes how it’s developing. You know, you can really tear a person down like that, and it should never be like this.”
Vollering led Niewiadoma-Phinney by eight seconds going into Sunday’s final stage.
Also speaking ahead of the stage, Niewiadoma-Phinney defended her comments from Saturday: “I expressed my opinion. I know what’s right, let’s say, and what’s not maybe necessarily right. It’s not that I make things up, and I think I expressed what I had, and nothing has changed since that.”
