“njet” from Quentin Hermans reverberation. The puncher couldn’t live with the explanation he received from performance director Aike Visbeek regarding his unexpected lack of selection for the Tour de France.
The team kept their lips tight at first, but it was in Copenhagen that Visbek matched the story.
The Dutchman had read Hermans’ reaction. He stated that the team believes it will destroy the atmosphere as it will switch to Alpecin-Deceuninck next year.
“Quentin shouldn’t say now that he doesn’t know why it’s spoiling. It was really bad. He’s proven us right with that reaction and we’d better leave him at home,” Fisbeck opened his argument.
“Obviously this wasn’t an easy decision and it wasn’t a good one, but it didn’t happen overnight.”
“It’s been a mess with Quentin since November. People from our team tried to repair the damage and succeeded before spring, but the situation didn’t get out of hand until after that. The past two months have been particularly difficult.”
Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert wanted Hermann to be tied to him for a longer period, but negotiations dragged on for a long time.
“Quentin has always had a special place in the team, we have always supported him, even if it was just to prepare for the cross season.”
“But a lot has happened in the last weeks and months. There’s been talk for 8 months, with all the emotions that come with it.”
That emotional roller coaster has now reached a boiling point. “People are angry and disappointed. There are different sides to the story.”
“All these feelings have come together in recent weeks and it has not been a good situation. So there has been talk in recent days and it was decided to leave Quentin at home.”
“The Tour is a race of about 4 weeks, with a lot of tension. You sit on that bus for 4 weeks, you live close to each other. Then you have to not only send the 8 strongest riders, but a team that hangs together, we can fight for our goals” .
“In the spring, our good atmosphere was widely praised, which means that the riders outdo themselves and do better. We didn’t want to make any compromises for that. There is already enough pressure in the Tour. We wanted to avoid more emotions and distractions.”
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