Former Paris-Roubaix winner John Degenkolb took to Instagram on Monday to rebut allegations that his team, Picnic-PostNL, operates in a 'culture of fear' and an 'unsafe working situation' following a damning report by NOS Sport and De Waaier.
Writing in German, Degenkolb said in his ten years with the organisation out of 16 years as a pro cyclist, he had never experienced a "culture of fear" either in his first stint with the team when it was Argos-Shimano from 2012 to 2016, or "after my deliberate return to the team in 2022".
"Critical voices must be heard and taken seriously. However, for a fair and balanced assessment, all relevant perspectives should be considered," Degenkolb wrote.
"Our team consists of around 160 employees, including approximately 60 riders per season. Over the team’s 18-year history, it is certainly possible to find 71 individuals who have had negative experiences - but are their experiences exclusively negative?
He then tagged the journalists who reported the story, Thijs Zonneveld and Nando Boers, asking, "Why were voices like mine - and those of many others - left out of the investigation?"
Zonneveld replied, thanking him for the comments and stating, "We cannot tell you who we spoke to exactly - because we will always protect our sources. But I can tell you that we spoke to 71 riders, ex-riders, staff and former staff. And if we keep counting the (former) employees we spoke to after the publication, it would be even more.
"I respect your point of view ... but there are a lot of people who had a different experience than you."
The report included comments from Tom Dumoulin's former coach Adriaan Helmantel, who said the team's culture went downhill after Dumoulin's Giro d'Italia victory in 2017.
"They started becoming paranoid" of riders "calling the shots" if riders and coaches became too close. "It became a dictatorship," Helmantel said. Nicolas Roche described being "pushed toward the exit" because he had "too much influence on the young riders".
The team issued a response, stating that they would start an independent investigation into the allegations; they refused to engage with the two journalists during their research.
After the report was published, head coach Rudi Kemna said he was devastated by the accusations, telling Wielerflits, "The only reaction I can give is that I am deeply upset. That I sympathise with all the people we have apparently traumatised—I don't know what words are being used. I am astonished by it, but it touches me too.
"And it also hurts me that we are portrayed this way as a team, and personally Iwan [Spekenbrink, team owner] and I too... We try to lead the team as well as possible, especially regarding safety."
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