Despite outrage on social media and critical comments from CPA president Adam Hansen and CPA women's manager Alessandra Cappelotto, Catherine Hammes and Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Tour de France Femmes avec defended and forgave a cameraman's bike for contacting Hammes and passing the riders up close on stage 4 of Zwift.

At the start of stage 5 in Onet-le-Château, CPA women's rider representative Belén López, speaking to Cyclingnews, revealed that Hammes had made a statement after the stage defending the bike rider.

"I spoke with Kathrine Hames after the stage yesterday. But she and her sport director told me that they think the exclusion is too much and that a fine would be better, since this happens in racing. I then spoke with the judges and we agreed that a fine would be best," Lopez told Cycling News.

The incident occurred on a narrow road when two bikes tried to pass a breakaway group; the first passed Hammes, but the second clipped her handlebars with a large hard plastic pannier.

"I really enjoyed watching @LeTourFemmes, but is it acceptable for a motorcycle to push a rider?" Hansen asked on Twitter late Wednesday.

"Or is it to let them know the next bike is about to take her out?"

"If you can't pass safely, don't pass. Some motorcycle riders need better education ......."

Cappelotto asked: "Motorcycles are wider than cars! Are you going on vacation?"

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Hammes, riding the EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, spoke about this incident at the sign-in on stage 5 at Hone le Chateau.

"The bike tried to pass me but the road was really narrow, I was tired and I didn't move left enough so I hit him. I lost my rhythm a little bit, but it was fine.

"It's a shared responsibility. It's their responsibility to leave enough space for us and our responsibility to leave enough space for them to pass us. If we want safe racing, live coverage, and pictures of the really tough moments, sometimes they have to come through."

"What I have to say is that it shouldn't happen. But at the same time, it's a tight sport and it can happen. I don't think he did it on purpose and I don't feel it was a super aggressive move on the bike. There are enough bikes to keep us safe and also to cover us.

Audrey Cordon-Lago of Human Powered Health also joined the breakaway group on stage 4 and rode in the virtual yellow jersey for most of the race.

Cordon-Lago was the peloton and race organizers at the Tour Feminine Pyrenees in June when the peloton agreed to neutralize the race to the base of the Autacam while the second stage was suspended and the third stage cancelled altogether because of a lack of safety concerns that plagued the riders. were in charge of the negotiations.

Cordón-Lago agreed with Hammes about Wednesday's events.

"Everyone is human. Mistakes happen," Cordón-Lago said.

"The Tour is a far cry from what we experience in other races. It happened in the men's Tour, and it happened to the top group in the mountains. No one is doing it on purpose; we just need to apologize.