Demi Vollering has defended her FDJ United-SUEZ teammate Célia Gery after her Tour de France Femmes rival Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney accused the French champion of a lack of ‘fair play’ following stage 8.

Niewiadoma-Phinney, who lost the yellow jersey to Vollering in a dramatic finale to Saturday’s stage, confronted Gery at the finish, claiming she’d been ‘blocked’ against the barriers in the finale.

“I lost all respect,” Niewiadoma-Phinney said, adding: “I feel like if they want to compete they should compete fair play.”

Vollering was asked about the matter in her stage winner and yellow jersey press conference, and she explained that she didn’t see the incident, given she was up ahead and looking to accelerate – which she did to great effect.

“I don’t know what happened, I didn’t see anything. I just saw what was in front of me, and it was nothing, just black for eyes,” Vollering said.

“Probably Célia had the same because she did a perfect lead-out for me. She gave her all.”

Vollering went on to defend the character of Gery.

“She’s such a strong and amazing teammate, and I’m sure that the moment she went off, she probably didn’t see Kasia.

“I’m sure she didn’t do it on purpose, and I think also Kasia knows deep in her heart that that kind of thing just happens sometimes in racing.

“It’s the shit part of racing and also the tricky part of racing. So yeah, I mean, I cannot say too much about that.”

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Demi Vollering has defended her FDJ United-SUEZ teammate Célia Gery after her Tour de France Femmes rival Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney accused the French champion of a lack of ‘fair play’ following stage 8.

Niewiadoma-Phinney, who lost the yellow jersey to Vollering in a dramatic finale to Saturday’s stage, confronted Gery at the finish, claiming she’d been ‘blocked’ against the barriers in the finale.

“I lost all respect,” Niewiadoma-Phinney said, adding: “I feel like if they want to compete they should compete fair play.”

Vollering was asked about the matter in her stage winner and yellow jersey press conference, and she explained that she didn’t see the incident, given she was up ahead and looking to accelerate – which she did to great effect.

“I don’t know what happened, I didn’t see anything. I just saw what was in front of me, and it was nothing, just black for eyes,” Vollering said.

“Probably Célia had the same because she did a perfect lead-out for me. She gave her all.”

Vollering went on to defend the character of Gery.

“She’s such a strong and amazing teammate, and I’m sure that the moment she went off, she probably didn’t see Kasia.

“I’m sure she didn’t do it on purpose, and I think also Kasia knows deep in her heart that that kind of thing just happens sometimes in racing.

“It’s the shit part of racing and also the tricky part of racing. So yeah, I mean, I cannot say too much about that.”

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.