After a tumultuous, thrilling day at the Tour de France Femmes, Kasia Niewiadoma’s Canyon-SRAM team have lodged a formal complaint with the UCI, claiming that the Polish star was forced into the barriers by one of Demi Vollering’s teammates, an incident which may have contributed to her losing the race lead in Nice.

Niewiadoma, who took the yellow jersey with a sensational solo ride on Mont Ventoux on Friday, appeared to lose Vollering’s wheel just as the Dutchwoman attacked on a steep slope 6km from the finish of stage eight to Nice on Saturday.

Live footage of the incident shows Niewiadoma, who entered the left-hand corner into the uncategorised climb just behind the FDJ United-Suez leader, riding close to the barriers before swinging out into the middle of the road in an attempt to answer Vollering’s attack.

The Canyon-SRAM rider was unable to close the gap and ultimately crossed the line in Nice 17 seconds after Vollering, who now leads the race by just eight seconds, ahead of what promises to be a thrilling finale on the Côte d’Azur on Sunday.

However, in the mixed zone immediately after the stage, Niewiadoma angrily confronted Vollering’s FDJ teammate Célia Gery, who she claimed cut her off on the corner just as Vollering attacked.

“Why did you do that? Why did you close me to the barriers? Was it part of the plan? Why? Because we need answers,” Niewiadoma asked the French champion, who did not respond and turned away.

Speaking to reporters soon after the confrontation, Niewiadoma said: “I definitely thought that they would do something. They always have a plan, so I wasn’t surprised.

“I was super annoyed at the beginning of the climb because Gery on purpose just blocked me to the barriers, where I had to stop pedalling.

“So I feel like if they want to compete, they should compete fair play and not look to close me into the barriers because I feel like it’s so childish. Honestly I lost all the respect for them for that.”

At the Canyon-SRAM team bus, sports director Rolf Aldag attempted to play down the incident.

“I didn’t see and I’ve not had a chance to talk with her, and I didn’t see it,” he told reporters, including road.cc.

“We knew how difficult that run-in to the climb would be. We were aware of that, and we made everyone aware of that.

“Hopefully it was fair and it was in the battle. I hope that the Tour de France is not decided by unfairness. Normally these athletes respect each other, let’s hope for the best but it’s also still not over.”

Soon after, Niewiadoma returned to the bus, where she told Aldag: “I asked her why she did that and she just smiled at me.”

> “You’re the strongest. I believe in you, you’re the queen”: How Kasia Niewiadoma pulled off the greatest ride in Tour de France Femmes history on Mont Ventoux

The reporters waiting at the bus were told that Niewiadoma would speak to the press after she had completed her warm down and recovery process. However, after waiting for a lengthy period of time, we were then told that the 2024 Tour winner would not be speaking to the press.

A spokesperson for Canyon-SRAM also said that the team would not address the incident as it was currently under review by the race jury, with sport director Ronny Lauke later confirming to Daniel Benson that the team had lodged a formal complaint with the UCI.

A number of commissaires were also spotted in the press room gathered around a phone watching footage of the alleged manoeuvre by Gery, though according to the daily communiqué published by the organisers, no decision was made and there is “nothing to report”.

UCI race jury looking at Tour de France Femmes incident
UCI race jury looking at Tour de France Femmes incident (Image Credit: Daniel Benson)

In her post-stage press conference, Vollering said she didn’t see what happened, but claimed similar incidents are usually accidental and the “shit part” of cycling.

“I don’t know what happened, I didn’t see anything,” the yellow jersey said.

“I just saw what was in front of me. And it was nothing, just black. And Celia was probably the same, she did the perfect lead-out for me, she gave her all. She’s such a strong and amazing teammate.

“And I’m sure in the moment she went off, she probably didn’t see Kasia. Or I’m sure she didn’t do it on purpose. And Kasia knows deep in her heart that those kind of things just happen in racing sometimes. It’s the shit part of racing, and also the tricky part of racing. So, yeah, I cannot say too much about that.

“I’ve heard nothing from the UCI. And I cannot say anything about this. Apparently it happened behind me and I don’t have eyes on my back, and Celia doesn’t either.”