Celia Gery, a 20-year-old French cyclist riding for FDJ United-Suez, has received death threats following a clash during Saturday's stage of the Tour de France Femmes, team manager Lars Boom said.
Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney, who was leading the race after winning atop Mont Ventoux the day before, accused Gery of pushing her toward the curb on a sharp left turn late in the stage, forcing her to lose speed to avoid falling.
At the finish, Niewiadoma-Phinney went over to speak with the younger rider, but Gery would not exchange a word with her. Footage that circulated online afterward suggested the Polish rider had a point, though race judges did not penalize Gery. Niewiadoma-Phinney's father told the outlet Sport.pl that his daughter made a mistake by putting too much energy into pedaling on the approach to the corner and had to fight to avoid falling several meters later.
Death threats condemned
Boom said the simple incident had generated a wave of anger among fans on social media. He said Celia was the target of brutal attacks on social media and was receiving death threats, calling it a real shame. Speaking to the outlet Sporza, the 40-year-old former Dutch cyclist said he felt very sorry for Celia, adding that he had watched the footage of the incident and still saw nothing shocking in it, since there had been room left for other riders.
Vollering wins again
On Sunday, Gery was unable to give much help to her team leader Demi Vollering over a longer stretch of the route. Vollering pulled away from the main group of leaders during the second climb of the Col d'Eze and dropped Niewiadoma-Phinney about 600 meters before the summit, extending her lead to more than a minute on the descent. She reached the finish alone, sealing her second Tour de France Femmes title and becoming the only rider in the race's history to do so twice.
Niewiadoma-Phinney held on to second place overall, crossing the line third on the stage. Dominika Włodarczyk, Poland's national road race champion, finished seventh in the final classification.
