Belgian cyclist Jasper Philipsen suffered a serious fall during Tour de France Stage 3 and was forced to retire from the competition. He is already in Belgium, having undergone surgery on his acromioclavicular joint. A now all the blame has fallen into Bryan Coquard, from Cofidis, the one who supposedly caused the fall.
Certainly, Coquard has already paid for his actions: he was fined with 500 Swiss Francs, around 535 euros, had 13 points removed in the classification, and was given a yellow card, a new system introduce by the UCI in 2025 to address dangerous or unsporting behaviour on the peloton, like irregular sprinting, obstruction, or pushing. If he receives another yellow card during the Tour de France, he would be disqualified and suspended for seven days.
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However, is it fair? Video of the incident seem to confirm that, while it was Coquard the one that hit Philipsen and fell, he only reacted to a chain of actions initiated by other riders, Jonathan Milan and Simone Consonni from Lidl Trek. And neither did anything deliberate or reckless to cause the crash when examined individually, points StickyBottle.com.
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Almost in tears, Coquard said that "You can imagine that causing the green jersey to abandon brings me absolutely no joy" and that "Even though it was absolutely not on purpose, I offered my apologies to Philipsen and Alpecin-Deceuninck. I'm not a bad guy, and this is anything but pleasant". However, he did received plenty of insults and abuse online, which cause his team to intervene:
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"Bryan Coquard wishes to emphasize how deeply affected he was by Jasper Philipsen's crash and withdrawal. It was an unfortunate racing incident, but in no way is his responsibility involved in the change of trajectory. The team reserves the right to take legal action against anyone who violates their integrity".
Philip Roodhooft, co-owner of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Philipsen's team, said that Jasper "was a victim of something he was totally not involved in" but "the two others, they collide or crash but this is not about blaming. It was just a stupid crash, something that can happen".
Now, Cofidis is working to have the yellow card on Coquard overturned, believing it was not justified. "Bryan holds his line. He was also a victim of a racing incident himself", and they think that "because it involved the green jersey, the jury apparently felt they had to react", reopening the controversy surrounding yellow cards in cycling.
"What is yellow and what isn't yellow?" Philipsen himself asked last year, when a crash in the Baloise Belgium Tour led to fellow rider Davide Bomboi being punished. "He had done nothing wrong. Yellow was unjust and unnecessary" (via The Guardian).