Patrick Lefebvre, manager of Deceuninck-Quickstep (opens in new tab), is well known for his outbursts against the UCI, race organizers and other teams.

However, after stage 5 of the Tour de France (opens in new tab), Julien Alaphilippe (opens in new tab) for a 20-second penalty for taking a feed (opens in new tab) within 20 km of the end of the race After being stripped of the lead, the Belgian's intense gaze turned to his own team members.

"It's very difficult, but there are rules. If you apply them strictly to other players, the same applies to us," Lefebvre told Le Parisien magazine (opens in new tab).

"The yellow jersey is not above the others. If no one had warned us that we couldn't refuel in the last 20 km, that would be different. But it's clear that someone on the team didn't know."

Deceuninck-QuickStep's Directeur Sportif Tom Steele said after the stage that the team of course knew the 20km rule, but added that it was the only place where bottles could be safely passed.

"It's a shame to lose the yellow like this, I know the 20km rule," Steele said. 'It was quite dangerous at 70 km/h and there were flat areas to prepare for the climb. It was quite dangerous to go 70 km/h."

"I know the 20 km/h rule.

"It's a special Tour, everyone has to be careful with their bottles, they have to stay away from the public, and that's why we didn't reach the 20 km mark by 2 km, because of those circumstances. We made a mistake.

"Of course, in cycling, if you fall, get a flat tire, have a mishap, or run into someone stronger than you, you lose the jersey. But to lose the jersey for such a foolish act is ......." Moreover, it was someone from our team who committed this foolish act."

"So no one can be happy. I'm not. Julien didn't deserve to lose like that, but the rules are the same for everyone. I can't believe it. At the finish, there were two jerseys, Julien's yellow and Sam Bennett's green. All of a sudden it was just one," he said.

[20] "It was a tumultuous start, with two riders from Dečuninck-Quick Step, Fabio Jacobsen of the Tour de Pollogne and Remco Evenpole of Il Lombardia, hospitalized after a bad crash.

"When you think about riders like Fabio Jacobsen, who was seriously injured and received 130 stitches to his face, you have to put things in perspective. It will pass like a gust of wind and we will raise our heads again. This is only a trivial matter."