Froome Running Up Mont Ventoux: A Yellow Jersey With No Bike
On July 14, 2016, the yellow jersey of the Tour de France is running up Mont Ventoux on foot, his bike wrecked after a crash caused by a motorbike. Froome running on Mont Ventoux then forces the jury to decide whether a rider can lose a Tour because of a motorbike stopped in the wrong place.
By the PacePoster desk · · 3 min · 8 sources
01A Ventoux shortened by the wind
July 14, stage 12: Montpellier to Mont Ventoux, 178 km. The finish was supposed to be at the summit. The wind decides otherwise: the finish is moved down to Chalet Reynard, 6 km lower, with gusts of 125 km/h, according to the AP news agency. Velo talks of winds over 100 km/h.
One detail will matter: because of the wind, not all the barriers could be put up, explains Tour director Christian Prudhomme. And the crowd came anyway, even denser near the new line.
02Three men, one motorbike
At 1.2 km from the line according to Velo, in the last kilometer according to AP, Chris Froome, Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema ride ahead of the other favorites. The crowd blocks the road. A television motorbike brakes. Porte hits it. Froome and Mollema go down with him. Then a second motorbike hits Froome's bike, which is wrecked.
It was the race motorbike that basically stopped us from racing and the jury based their decision on that basis
03The yellow jersey runs
Mollema gets going again right away. Porte follows. Froome has no bike left, and his team car is stuck behind the crowd. So he runs: about a hundred meters, about fifty seconds, according to Velo.
Then comes a neutral Mavic bike: too small, with flat pedals that don't suit him. He finally gets his spare bike, 400 m from the line according to Velo. He crosses the finish 1 min 40 s behind Mollema and about 1 min 20 s behind Adam Yates, according to The Inner Ring. For the moment, Yates is in yellow.
04The jury thinks it over
Is running on foot allowed? According to The Inner Ring, the spirit of the rules targets cheating, like cutting the course or getting in a car, not a forced jog.
After a half-hour meeting, according to Velo, the jury gives Froome and Porte Mollema's time. Froome keeps the yellow jersey, 47 s ahead of Yates and 56 s ahead of Mollema. Two days later he sums it up: “It was the race motorbike that basically stopped us from racing and the jury based their decision on that basis.”
05Not everyone is happy
Yates, who would have worn yellow without that decision, finds the solution fair: he did not want to take the jersey that way. At Trek-Segafredo, Mollema's team, manager Luca Guercilena is annoyed, according to The Inner Ring. The stage winner, Belgium's Thomas De Gendt, talks about the crowd: “There was not even a place for one motorbike.”
At Sky, Dave Brailsford jokes on French television, The Inner Ring reports: what if we entered Froome in the Paris marathon?
Sources for this story (8)
Every fact was cross-checked in at least two independent sources. Where they disagree, the story says so.
- Chris Froome keeps Tour lead after bizarre crash — ESPN / Associated Press (14 juillet 2016)
- The Running Man — The Inner Ring (14 juillet 2016)
- Chaos at Tour de France sees yellow jersey running up the road — Velo (14 juillet 2016)
- De Gendt takes victory on shortened Ventoux stage — Velo (14 juillet 2016)
- Froome laughs about Ventoux madness — Velo (16 juillet 2016)
- Froome retains Tour de France lead despite Ventoux chaos — Bangor Daily News (14 juillet 2016)
- Tour de WTF : chaos and confusion on Ventoux — SBS / Cycling Central (15 juillet 2016)
- 2016 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21 — Wikipédia en anglais
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