Tour de France Femmes: World governing body excludes sports director

In addition, the UCI imposed a fine of 500 Swiss francs on the 51-year-old, who works for the SD Worx team. In the opinion of the governing body, available TV footage during the fifth stage on Thursday showed "the particular danger of Mr Stam overtaking other cars and drivers", according to a statement published on Friday. He also attracted attention with "inappropriate comments".

Tour de France Femmes: Time penalty against Demi Vollering

Stam was a professional cyclist himself. His team, which includes current Tour overall leader Lotte Kopecky, expressed surprise at the measure in a statement: "We are surprised that the UCI has imposed this penalty, but we accept it." The team conceded that they had perhaps reacted "too emotionally" to the 20-second time penalty against rider Demi Vollering. Anna van der Breggen replaces Stam during the Tour de France Femmes.

>> This is the route of the Tour de France Femmes 2023

The second edition of the eight-stage women's cycling tour ends on Sunday with an individual time trial in Pau. The highlight is the mountain finish on the Tourmalet on Saturday.

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