Cycling

Mads Pedersen wins stage 13 as Tour de France criticised over Covid and crowds

Tour organisers ASO under pressure over Covid testing and Alpe d’Huez scenes during Thursday’s stage

Danish rider Mads Pedersen celebrates as he cycles to the finish line to win the 13th stage of the Tour de France between Le Bourg d'Oisans and Saint-Etienne. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images

Jeremy Whittle
Fri Jul 15 2022 - 17:42

Danish sprinter Mads Pedersen, of Trek-Segafredo, took victory in the 13th stage from Le Bourg d’Oisans to Saint-Étienne, after a high-powered seven-rider breakaway dissolved on the rolling roads west of the Rhône.

Chased across the Isère and Rhône by the peloton, the breakaway included south London’s Fred Wright, of the Bahrain Victorious team. The 23-year-old slipped clear in the final kilometres with former World Road Race champion Pedersen and Hugo Houle, but the Dane’s sprint proved irresistible.

“I’m a bit gutted to be honest,” Wright said, after taking second place. “I tried, so second is pretty good, but I wanted that win. I needed to attack on the last climb but that tempo was as hard as I could go. After we got over it, it was like: ‘Damn, it’s going to be a sprint and I won’t be able to beat him [Pedersen].’”

“I’m learning,” Wright said of his efforts. “I’ll do it better next time. Maybe not this Tour, but at some point there will be a next time.”

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The heat was on as the fatigued peloton rolled out of the Alps towards the Rhône valley, with riders constantly dousing themselves with water, as temperatures in the high 30s settled on central France.

Health and safety has never been a priority for a race that fetishises gladiatorial suffering, but on a day that a nine-year-old boy was hit by a race vehicle but avoided serious injury, promoters ASO have been criticised for both their Covid protocols and their crowd control after Tom Pidcock’s win on Alpe d’Huez on Thursday.

The Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws published criticism of rider safety on the Alpe, known as “the Glastonbury of cycling fans”, accusing the race organisers of a lack of respect, as riders were surrounded by fans shouting in their faces and running alongside at key moments.

“It is a miracle of God that no accidents happen,” the newspaper said. “For four years the Tour de France has not been on Alpe d’Huez. Better it stays away for the next 40 years too, if it has to. If organiser ASO refuses to create distance between riders and public, that is a lack of respect.”

Meanwhile, just two days after he had come close to winning the stage to the Col du Granon, the French climber Warren Barguil became the latest rider to test positive for Covid, making his Arkéa-Samsic squad the fifth team so far to lose a rider due to the virus.

On Thursday, the Belgian association of sports doctors (SKA) also accused ASO of not adhering to the best Covid testing protocols. In a statement the SKA cited sources within the peloton, including “doctors or riders,” saying that the “tests carried out by ASO do not follow a strict protocol, and the swab is not inserted far enough into the nose.”

There was widespread disbelief when all the Covid tests taken last Sunday evening were pronounced negative. Tom Teulingkx, a sports doctor and president of the SKA, said the situation was “unworthy of an organisation like ASO”.

“If ASO declares that there is no positive case, it should be taken with caution,” the SKA said. “Fortunately, there are many doctors in teams who take their responsibilities by redoing the tests themselves.

“These are often done at the request of riders who have little confidence in ASO. If you cannot provide quality support, you give riders and those around them a false sense of security. Coronavirus is a disease, not an injury.”

As the race goes on there are expected to be more positive results, particularly in the aftermath of the unruly scenes on Alpe d’Huez on Thursday, a climb on which, despite the former Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali being brought down by a fan in 2018 and forced to abandon the Tour with a fractured vertebra, promises of increased security from ASO have not materialised.

Race leader Jonas Vingegaard seemed resigned to the situation. “Of course it’s a big risk to get Covid when a lot of spectators are shouting in your face,” he said. “I think that’s obvious to everyone. I guess that’s how it is. We just hope for the best.”

Meanwhile speculation surrounds the future of Mark Cavendish, who was left out of the race by his current sponsor, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl. The Tour rumour mill has linked him to both Israel-Premier Tech and the EF Education-EasyPost team, although negotiations with the American team are believed to have stalled. – Guardian

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