Former sprinter Eddy Planckaert had some pretty direct criticisms of the UCI jury after the saga that saw Jasper Philipsen relegated then reinstated for a move during the sprint finale of stage 11 at the Tour de France.
Soon after the stage to Nevers concluded, Philipsen – who had finished third – was relegated, seemingly for a pair of movements that saw him collide with Picnic-PostNL sprinter Pavel Bittner and then slightly elbow NSN’s Biniam Girmay.
However, after his team went to the commissaires to appeal the decision and the jury reviewed video footage, Philipsen was relegated back into third place and didn’t receive so much as a warning, let alone the initial relegation and yellow card.
Despite the decision ultimately being reversed, Planckaert was highly critical of the relegation being handed out in the first place.
“I once said to someone in the Tour who was giving me a penalty, and I’m going to say it again: they don’t know the difference between a cow and a horse,” the former green jersey winner said on Flemish channel VRT‘s post-stage Vive le Vélo show.
“You really need people there who know something about it. There need to be two sprinters there who have an idea. A sprinter would never disapprove of that.”
Planckaert argued that Philipsen’s perceived aggression was an acceptable part of sprinting, and not necessarily inherently dangerous.
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“He’s up against professionals,” he said. “If you do this to a recreational cyclist or someone with no experience, they’ll be on the ground. But someone who is trained, come on.”
“If you get disqualified for that, well guys… Then you have to only organise time trials or mountain stages. This just isn’t right. Imagine being in a situation like that, going at sixty or seventy kilometres per hour and stressed out just to reach the finish line, and there’s a minor incident.”
Some other commentators called into question the consistency and fairness of sprint rules, with Philipsen’s short-lived relegation a step up from the warnings that some of his rivals have received for similar moves already this Tour.
Retired Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan said that a certain level of pushing and fighting is necessary to fight for position, and perhaps there isn’t enough consistency, and perhaps even extra surveillance on Philipsen, who has been relegated at the Tour before. However, Philipsen’s directeur sportif Philip Roodhooft was fairly diplomatic about that suggestion.
“I think consistency is the key to every rule. If it’s not applied for everybody in the same way, then it creates trouble,” he said. “But I don’t think anybody has a special eye on Jasper, I think it’s too far to think that.”
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