SD Worx director Danny Stam expelled from Tour de France Femmes after drafting incident

SD Worx sports manager Danny Stam has been excluded from the remainder of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and has been fined 500 Swiss francs by the UCI, the governing body confirmed on Friday morning.

This comes after Demi Vollering was docked 20 seconds on stage 5 for drafting behind the SD Worx car, which Stam was driving.

The sanctions were a result of a “careful and lengthy review of the available TV footage,” explained the UCI, “which clearly shows the particularly dangerous nature of Mr Stam's overtaking of other cars and riders during stage 5 of the event, and in view of the inappropriate comments made by Mr Stam to the UCI Commissaires’ Panel.”

Stam’s punishment is not, therefore, a direct consequence of drafting Demi Vollering back to the peloton on stage 5, but a result of the manner in which he drove during those frantic few minutes for the SD Worx team. After changing a punctured wheel with 61km to ride, Vollering sat behind Stam’s team car for a prolonged period of time in order to make her way back to the peloton.

This infringement on the rules against drafting led the UCI to hand Vollering a 20-second penalty, sending her tumbling from second place on GC to seventh at the end of stage 5. The commissaires however, took umbrage not only with Vollering’s drafting but also with the so-called erratic driving of the SD team car, which saw Stam veer onto the grass at one point to avoid colliding with another vehicle.

In light of this dangerous driving - and the comments made by Stam to the Commissaires’ Panel - the UCI have decided to hand Stam both a 500 Swiss franc fine, and an expulsion from the rest of the Tour de France Femmes.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Danny Stam with SD Worx rider Christine Majerus on stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift

Whilst the exact nature of Stam’s comments to the UCI are not known, his frustration at the time penalty handed to Vollering became clear in an interview he gave to Sporza on Thursday evening.

"As Chief Commissioner at the UCI, you need to think for a moment to see if this could affect the standings,” Stam voiced. “I hope they can look in the mirror with a satisfied face on Sunday and then not think: we screwed up the Tour by 5 seconds."

Speaking in light of his expulsion from the race to GCN’s Matt Stephens, Stam cut a deflated figure on Friday, with his confusion over the situation apparent.

“I had a bike ride this morning and then I came back and the UCI came to tell me that I am disqualified from the Tour for the rest of the week,” he explained.

“There was not a real clear answer [on why I have been disqualified], they came with four [people] and asked if I wanted to speak in French, which is not easy for me. So I said, ‘can we speak in English’, and they said I cannot continue in the Tour de France because of the incident yesterday.”

SD Worx responded to the UCI’s decision in a press release ahead of the start of stage 6.

"We are surprised that the UCI imposes this penalty, but accept this measure. Perhaps in the first moment we reacted a little too emotionally to Demi Vollering's time penalty.”

Leading the SD Worx project since 2013, Stam has developed the team into the most successful outfit in the Women’s WorldTour, with the Dutch squad currently leading the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift through Lotte Kopecky. The Belgian will hope to keep the yellow jersey on stage 6 and perhaps sprint for the stage victory, but it is Vollering who has her eyes set on the overall win come the end of the weekend.

The 26-year-old now sits 1:03 off the race lead of her teammate following the 20-second penalty, with second-placed Ashleigh Moolman Pasio the de facto leader of the GC favourites at 49 seconds in arrears. SD Worx have suffered a blow with the loss of Stam, but will hope that Vollering is able to secure her first Grand Tour victory with strong performances on stages 7 and 8 over the weekend.

We’ll be showing live and on-demand coverage of all eight stages of this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift from Sunday, July 23 to Sunday, July 30. Head over to GCN+ now to check the start times of each broadcast so that you don’t miss out on a moment of the action! As always, territory restrictions will apply.