Mont Ventoux always provides high drama in the Tour de France, and on this Bastille Day stage it produced the unprecedented spectacle of the yellow jersey, Chris Froome, running up the mountain after his bike was broken in a crash involving the double winner, Richie Porte and the Dutchman Bauke Mollema 600 metres from the finish line. Froome lost 1min 21 seconds, dropping him to sixth in the overall standings, and was initially relieved of the yellow jersey in favour of his fellow Briton Adam Yates, but he was reinstated almost an hour later.
However, Dan Martin’s chances of a podium finish took a big knock when he had an off-day and lost time on the final climb. Martin was dropped by the other race favourites inside the closing kilometres and conceded one minute 25 seconds to the trio of Froome (Sky), Porte (BMC Racing Team) and Mollema (Trek).
Martin had been third overall, 31 seconds back starting the stage but slipped to ninth. He will start Friday’s stage 13 time trial one minute 56 seconds adrift of Froome’s yellow jersey.
Martin’s compatriot Sam Bennett finished with the other sprinters and continues to recover from a bad crash earlier in the Tour. If his strength returns he has possible sprint opportunities on Saturday and Monday.
The dramatic crash was caused by a large part of the crowd encroaching on to the course at the point just below where the barriers began; the sheer volume of fans on the tarmac made it impossible for one of the television camera motorbikes to pass, and it was Porte who collided with the stationary machine first, followed by Mollema. Froome went to the left of the motorbike, after which a second motorbike ran over the yellow jersey’s bike, apparently breaking his frame.
“With about 1.2km to go, the motorbike slammed on its brakes - the road was blocked in front - the three of us just ran into the motorbike and another motorbike ploughed into me, breaking my frame,” Froome said. “I just started running. I knew the car was stuck and was five minutes behind.” He said of his reinstatement into yellow: “I think it was a fair decision, and I want to thank the jury and the organisation. It was the right decision.”
The episode will raise further questions about the safety of riders in major events after a series of major accidents involving motorbikes this season, although ironically it came after the organisers moved the finish lower down the mountain for safety reasons due to high winds.Earlier in the race Froome had asked the Tour crowds to show restraint, after he punched a fan who he felt had been behaving dangerously, a call echoed by the race organisers and other riders.
With his team car stuck behind a group lower down the mountain, and no spare bike in sight, Froome gave his redundant machine to a photographer and was forced to take to his two feet, plodding awkwardly in his stiff shoes and plates for some 45 seconds. The race rules state a rider must cross the line with his bike even if he is on foot, so had he reached the line in this way his time would not have stood.
Eventually Froome received a spare machine from the neutral service car; but it was visibly too small for him, and had the wrong kind of pedals so he was barely able to move. Some 400 metres from the line his team car did arrive to give him a spare, but he crossed the line 6:45 behind the stage winner, Thomas De Gendt of Belgium, and was demoted in provisional results to sixth overall, 53sec behind Yates.
Usually, in the event of an accident in the final kilometres of a stage the riders are credited with the same time as the group they are with at three kilometres from the finish. However, the Tour does not apply this rule in the event of a summit finish such as the Ventoux, hence the initial confusion over Froome’s fate before the ruling that these were exceptional circumstances. The race jury ruled he would be credited with the same time as the two riders he was with before the incident.
“I’m happy with the decision,” said Yates.”I wouldn’t have wanted to take the yellow jersey like that. I’d rather take it with my legs.”
“[THE DECISION] is fair and sensible,” said the Team Sky head, Sir Dave Brailsford. “It was an accident. It wasn’t a deliberate act.. Richie, Mollema and Chris were the strongest here and were opening a gap. I think this was an exceptional situation. Perhaps we will put Chris in the Paris Marathon next year.”
Froome’s directeur sportif, Nicolas Portal, was visibly furious at the finish. “It’s fucking annoying, to be simple,” said the Frenchman. “This was not a normal sporting accident. It was not the weather or a normal crash. There was a wall of people. It wasn’t one spectator but thousands.”
“The crowd were all over the road,” said Porte. “The motorbike just stopped riding and we had nowhere to go. I went straight over the top of the motorbike; it was just a mess. We were 23 seconds in front and then for something so silly everybody is back on us. If you can’t control the crowd what can you control? It wasn’t really the motorbike, it was the crowd. They are in your face the whole time, pushing riders. It was just crazy at the top there.”
One estimate put the number of people at the finish at 400,000, and it seemed likely that the decision to cut the stage short made the roads particularly congested as the fans had to move down the mountain. De Gendt said he too came close to falling due to the crowds. “I got pushed, [SECOND PLACED]Serge Pauwels got pushed. We almost crashed because of all the people. This is something they should do something about. There were too many people in the last kilometre, not even space for a single motorbike.”
(Guardian service)
