Cofidis reacted with surprise on Tuesday to the yellow card given to Bryan Coquard after the crash involving green jersey wearer Jasper Philipsen. Team boss Cédric Vasseur disagreed with the decision and spoke out before the start of the fourth stage.
Coquard received a yellow card after being involved in Philipsen’s heavy crash. The international cycling federation UCI fined the Frenchman 500 euros and deducted thirteen points from his points classification. A second yellow card in this Tour could result in Coquard being removed from the race.
His team Cofidis disagrees with the yellow card. “This is certainly not justified,” Vasseur told Sporza a day later. “Bryan didn’t make any mistake. It was unfortunately a racing incident.”
The 33-year-old Coquard did touch Philipsen, but was himself touched by the Belgian Laurenz Rex when entering the intermediate sprint. “He touches the green jersey. But it’s not that you should automatically look for a guilty party because something happens,” Vasseur states.
The images show that Coquard respects his line. “He is also a victim of a racing incident himself,” Vasseur believes. “There is a first wave of Lidl-Trek and that brings Bryan to a rider from Intermarché-Wanty. This destabilizes him. He manages to save himself miraculously, but don’t ask me how.”
Alpecin-Deceuninck, the team of victim Philipsen, agrees with Vasseur. “I spoke with their team boss Philip Roodhooft and he told me that Bryan was not at fault,” Vasseur says. “Many other team leaders have supported us with messages.”
Philipsen broke his collarbone and a rib in the crash. The sprinter has since been successfully operated on and is looking forward to his recovery.