2023-07-19 23:18:00
It’s starting to do a lot. Three days following the quack at the summit of Joux Plane, where Tadej Pogacar had been blocked in his attack by a motorcycle photographer, the Tour de France experienced a new controversial episode on Wednesday during the ascent of the Col de la Loze, summit of this 2023 edition.
Near the summit, while the public was en masse, narrowing the roadway, a motorcycle stalled in front of Jonas Vingegaard. On such formidable slopes, it is difficult for such machines to be able to move forward without stalling. But there, it was in the worst place, in front of the yellow jersey.
The bike lay down on the asphalt and the leader of the Jumbo-Visma found himself stuck like one in a summer crossover on the Autoroute du Soleil. The Dane was very far ahead of Tadej Pogacar and the incident did not have the same impact on the race as during the Saint-Gervais stage on Sunday, but still.
Vingegaard stopped in the Loze following the fall of a motorcycle!
A motorcycle might have fallen on me
Thibaut Pinot suffered the same misadventure and on arrival in Courchevel, the climber from the Groupama-FDJ team was not losing his temper. “I was stuck for at least 30 seconds, I had the motorcycles almost falling on me, it was rubbish. It was so steep that the motorcycles had to stall. We let the cars pass when it 15 seconds between the groups, there are things I don’t understand,” he fumed.
The Franc-Comtois, who judges to have lived “one of the hardest days” of his career, “a stage of phew’, in the Top 5 of my most difficult stages”, would have done well without such an episode. “I’m tired, but what shocked me the most was really the race stopped because of the motorcycles and the car, a motorcycle might have fallen on me, it was shameful,” he said. spear.
There was no physical harm, fortunately, but once once more, the debate on the place of motorcycles might be revived. Note that this Tuesday, these traffic jams in the Col de la Loze claimed another victim: Thomas Voeckler, coach of the France team and consultant on the motorcycle for France Télévisions involved in the Loze bazaar. The jury of commissioners excluded him and his driver for the 18th stage on Thursday, for “Infringement of the regulations or directives concerning the circulation of vehicles in the race”.
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