Jumbo Visma manager Roger Plugge has hit back at Remco Evenepoel after the young Belgian said the riders in his Deceuninck-QuickStep team would not speak to Dylan Groenewegen when he returned to racing.
Dutch rider Groenewegen was suspended from competition over his actions in causing the crash at last year’s Tour de Pologne that so seriously injured Fabio Jakobsen.
Groenewegen moved to his right in the downhill sprint to close the door on Jakobsen, who crashed into the barriers. And because the barriers were so poor, he crashed through them and into the scaffolding holding the finish line gantry in place.
Speaking during an interview with Humo magazine, Evenepoel made clear he has hostile feelings towards Groenewegen ahead of his return from his nine-month ban in early May.
The 21-year-old, who is himself in the process of coming back from a broken pelvis sustained last August, said his team would not forget what happened and believed the whole team would snub Groenewegen.
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"How they get along in future is for them to figure out,” he said of what relationship Jakobsen and Groenewegen may have in the future.
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“I don't think Fabio has to talk to Dylan. It is correct
to ignore him. I don't think anyone from our team will speak to him. He hurt
our teammate and we can't forgive him for that."
However, Jumbo Visma managing director, Roger Plugge, has rounded on Evenepoel, saying his comments are only adding to the problem and insisting the punishment for what Groenewegen did has already been imposed on him.
Jakobsen and Groenewegen, the two Dutch sprinters at the centre of the lingering row after last year's stage 1 crash at Tour de Pologne
"Evenepoel is part of the problem with his response. It is better to think carefully before shouting in the media. He should know," Plugge told Het Laatste Nieuws.
"Dylan and Fabio have already
been in contact, but it has not yet come to a conversation. We have to wait for
a good moment. That is mainly up to Fabio."
Plugge also questioned the possibility
of Deceuninck-QuickStep team boss Patrick Lefevere
pursuing a legal action against Jumbo Visma, which has already been filed.
He said it was not right that Groenewegen
would be penalised twice for the same offence, adding the consequences of the
crash for Jakobsen were not solely down to Groenewegen; a clear reference to
the unsafe finish in Poland.
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