The Jumbo-Visma team does not want to hear about beer for its riders in the Tour de France but still allows itself to toast with champagne just before the arrival at the Champs-Elysées. The image is funny. Forty-eight hours after explaining that alcohol was “a poison” and that you had to “be very careful” about what athletes eat and drink, his team agreed to make a small departure from the drastic nutritious diet by posing for the traditional photo of the last stage with a glass of champagne in hand. Jonas Vingegaard and his teammates dipped their lips in the cups before their triumphant arrival in Paris.
In an interview with L’Équipe, Richard Plugge, the boss of the Dutch formation, had joked about the practices of the opponents by claiming to have seen the riders of the Groupama team drinking beer on the day of rest, the day before the time trial to Combloux.
“We also look around us at what others are doing. For example, we were with a French team (he doesn’t mention it, but it’s Groupama-FDJ) at our hotel during the rest day (Monday, the day before the time trial). We saw runners drinking large beers”, explained the leader to highlight the professionalism pushed to the extreme of his troops, especially in terms of nutrition.
These remarks had angered Marc Madiot, who had given a firm and categorical denial: “On every rest day, we have a moment of conviviality between my riders and the management. The management drinks a beer, not necessarily the runners and even if they had one, it wouldn’t have been fifty centilitres. I was at the table, there were Perriers. It’s shabby, small and shabby.”
