Tour de France - Luke Rowe and Tony Martin accept but disagree with jury decision
Jul 25 2019 03:57 am CET
Tour de France
Team Ineos and Jumbo-Visma have released a joint video statement of Luke Rowe and Tony Martin in which each of them explains what happened and their feelings after being disqualified from the Tour de France.
Rowe and Martin had a fight within the last 20 kilometres of the stage and they could be seen getting physical with each other. After watching the videos, the jury of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) took the decision of expelling them from the race.
"I think I can hold my hand up and say that I made a mistake," Rowe commented. "It's the heat of the moment, it was hot out there and we were fighting for position, myself looking after Geraint (Thomas) and Egan (Bernal) and Tony looking after (Steven) Kruijswijk. I think we both made a mistake."
"I have the same impression and as Luke already said," added Martin. "It was the heat of the moment and there was a big fight for the last climb. We rode five hours at 35 degrees, we were also on the limit and then we had a fight and you can see that in the video. We are sorry for what happened. I felt quite bad directly afterwards. Sometimes this happens in sports. But I really want to say sorry to Luke and to team Ineos and to the whole cycling world."
But the jury took the decision that the riders should go home after the stage. "We talked about the incident and put it to sleep," explained the rider of Ineos. "We both accepted the responsibility, we shook hands and said 'let's forget about it'."
Although their teams are appealing, for now, they have to leave the race. "It is still a big shock and I feel super bad and sad and leaving the team in this important part of the race is really bad," affirmed Martin. "I think it was also a hard decision from the jury but we have to accept it."
"We have to accept the decision but that being said I think it was a bit over the top," added Rowe. "I spent the best half of an hour in that van with the videotapes and I was trying to fight my battle and I said 'you can't throw Tony or myself for this'."
"I think it was harsh and what the jury misses for both of us is that second chance, to let us say that we are really sorry and that we would accept a penalty," the rider of Lotto-Jumbo explained. "Please let us in the race and let us do better the next days and give us a second chance. We can't also really show that we are sorry for this and leaving this way may bring across the wrong message."
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