'He deserves a yellow card' - Jegat claims Velasco insulted him in Tour break
Ben O'Connor lost out on a top 10 place in the Tour de France after Jordan Jegat infiltrated the break on the road to Pontarlier. Jayco-Alula's chase led to tensions in the break between Jegat and Simone Velasco.
Jorgan Jegat (TotalEnergies) is set to finish in the top 10 of the Tour de France in Paris on Sunday after making his way into the break of the day on stage 20 to Pontarlier.
His presence out in front prompted Ben O’Connor’s Jayco-Alula squad to chase the break and that in turn led to some frank discussions among the escapees about whether Jegat was hindering their chances of going all the way.
Jegat stood firm and the break went the distance, with Jayco-Alula’s chase fading in the finale. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the day and Jegat placed seventh to nip ahead of O’Connor in the overall standings with one day remaining.
At the finish, however, Jegat claimed that he had been insulted by Simone Velasco (XDS-Astana) for participating in the break, and he suggested that the Italian – fourth on the stage – could have been awarded a yellow card by the commissaires for his alleged behaviour.
“Only Velasco insulted me with all sorts of names at the finish line,” Jegat said, according to L’Équipe. “I don’t speak Italian, but I understand very well what he said to me. There’s a lot of talk about yellow cards in cycling, and he would have deserved one today."
“Everyone is free to do what they want, it’s my right to want to be in the breakaway, and I don’t see why he has to insult me like that. So I think it's a real shame, I was disappointed. Other riders said to me, ‘It’s a shame you're here,’ but no one else insulted me, they understood and that’s the game.”
At day’s end, Jegat had his reward for his endeavour. O’Connor and the peloton rolled home seven minutes down, which puts the 26-year-old almost two minutes clear of 11th place ahead of Sunday evening’s finale in Paris. With Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-Samsic) seventh overall after an impressive Tour, it means there will be two French riders in the top 10.
“Well, that's good, we can applaud ourselves, can’ we?” Jegat said. “Of course, I’m emotional, and there’s still one stage left tomorrow, but I’m not going to go on the attack.
“Do I deserve it? Yes, I don't know, everyone is fighting on the road. It’s a source of pride and I’m obviously happy to be able to give that to the team.”
