Visma's Plugge criticises Tour jury - 'Consistency is a major problem'

Richard Plugge, Managing Director of Visma | Lease a Bike, has criticised the Tour de France race jury, made up of UCI-appointed officials, for inconsistent application of rules after recent incidents involving Lenny Martinez's (Bahrain-Victorious) illegal water bottle technique and an Ineos Grenadiers team vehicle collision with a spectator. The Visma boss voiced his concerns on Sporza's Vive le Vélo show. 

The polka dot jersey wearer, Martinez and his directeur sportif Roman Krueziger were each fined after the rider used the ‘sticky bottle’ technique to return to the front of the breakaway, where he outsprinted Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) to take the maximum 20 points atop the Col du Glandon. Significantly for the mountains classification, Martinez was fined 8 points at the end of stage 18 by the race jury for the incident, and now sits third in the standings, 33 points behind the leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

"This isn't part of the game, especially when you're fighting for points or a jersey,” said Plugge on Vive le Vélo, emphasising the need for stricter enforcement of punishment when rules are broken. “If you're desperately trying to catch up, it's not allowed, but now it's finally about something," he added.

Plugge pointed to a stark contrast in punishment severity when compared to the 5,000CHF fine imposed on Ineos Grenadiers' directeur sportif, Oliver Cookson, when the team car he was driving collided with a spectator on stage 14. 

"The jury's consistency is a major problem,” Plugge continued. “ You have to be able to assume that the UCI will penalise according to the rules, and that often doesn't happen. That makes things very unclear."

The Visma boss questioned the fairness of such a heavy penalty for Cookson and Ineos when the circumstances seemed beyond their control due to a lack of crowd control. 

"Why? That Ineos guy was driving in the middle of the road. The big question is why the crowd was there and the organisers didn't make sure they were on the sidelines.” Plugge said. 

Plugge also suggested that the race organisers should share responsibility for such incidents involving spectator management, adding: "Why isn't the organisers getting a 5,000 Swiss franc fine to even things out? That often makes things very unclear for us," he added.