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Overnight race leader Kasia Niewiadoma has blasted the FDJ United \u2013 Suez team of Demi Vollering after losing the yellow jersey, calling their conduct childish.<\/p>\n
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She lost out to Vollering when the Dutch rider put in a huge attack on the day\u2019s final climb, ending Saturday\u2019s stage 8 17 seconds back and dropping to eight seconds behind as a result of the time bonus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely thought that they would do something. They always have a plan, so I wasn\u2019t surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was surprising, though, was the allegation that some improper behaviour may have been involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was super annoyed at the beginning of the climb because [Celia] G\u00e9ry on purpose just blocked me to the barriers where I had to stop pedalling,\u201d she claimed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like\u2026if they want to compete, they should compete fair play and not look for me to close me in the barriers because I feel like it\u2019s so childish.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I lost all the respect for them for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Footage filmed by Wielerflits showed Niewiadoma then challenging French champion G\u00e9ry over the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you do it? Why did you close me to barriers? Was it part of the plan?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
G\u00e9ry did not respond and moved away.<\/p>\n
Footage of the incident did appear to show G\u00e9ry coming close to Niewiadoma on a corner, with the latter losing ground to an attacking Vollering as a result. It is not clear from the video how intentional it was. There was no penalty indicated in the jury report afterwards.<\/p>\n