Visma boss Plugge slams UCI over Martinez sticky bottle: “The jury’s inconsistency is a major problem”
Cycling
Team Visma | Lease a Bike general manager Richard Plugge has taken aim at Tour de France commissaires after Lenny Martinez received what he sees as a lenient penalty for repeated sticky bottle infractions on stage 18 — a move that helped the Bahrain – Victorious rider retain his joint lead in the King of the Mountains classification.
Martinez, level on mountain points with Tadej Pogacar heading into the queen stage, was dropped early on the Col du Glandon but managed to claw his way back to the breakaway after three visible sticky bottle assists from his team car. He went on to take maximum KOM points at the summit, only to be docked just eight points by the jury — a sanction Plugge believes falls well short of fair.
“This is not part of the game — especially not when you’re competing for points or a jersey,” Plugge said on Sporza's Vive le Vélo. “Even if you’re struggling just to stay in the race, it’s not allowed. But here it had a clear impact on the classification.”
Plugge didn’t stop there, highlighting what he sees as a broader issue of inconsistency in UCI race officiating. He pointed to a 5,000 Swiss franc fine handed to Ineos Grenadiers earlier in the race after one of their vehicles hit a roadside fan, while Martinez and his team manager Roman Kreuziger were each fined just 500 francs for repeated infractions.
“You should be able to rely on the UCI to apply the rules as written — but too often that doesn’t happen,” Plugge said. “It makes things extremely unclear.”
He went on to question why Tour de France organisers weren’t fined over the spectator incident. “The real question is why those fans were allowed to stand there at all. Why doesn’t the organisation get fined to even things up?”
As the race nears its conclusion and every jersey hangs in the balance, Plugge’s comments reflect a growing unease in the peloton over how — and when — the rules are enforced.
Là c'est trois " bidon-collé "... #TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/ItHHYvNfkr
— 🅰ntoine VAYER 📸🖋️ (@festinaboy) July 24, 2025
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
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parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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