The 18th stage of the Tour de France between Lourdes and Hautacam offered us a new sublime duel between Jonas Vingegaard et Tadej Pogacar. The Danish yellow jersey, helped by a new Wout Van Aert great days, stunned the Tour a little more and is getting a little closer to a first final victory in Paris. An anthology stage which pushed another racing fact into the background.
95 kilometers from the finish, Jack Bauer fell in the descent of the Col d’Aubisque. As the road narrowed, the New Zealand rider, hampered by a press motorbike, slammed into the back of the team car UAE-Emirates. An impressive shock but ultimately not serious since he was able to leave a few moments later. An event to which he returned upon his arrival in Hautacam. “Motorcycles and cars had stopped and there was not enough space. But the ramp was so steep that the brakes didn’t help much. So it was either go left and hit a building or stay on course and hit UAE’s car. I hit the Shimano car a few days ago and I know how soft the bumpers are compared to tarmac or a building. And it’s not even a joke!” explains the member of the formation BikeExchange in remarks reported by the DH.
Despite the impressive shock, Jack Bauer holds no grudges once morest the pilots involved in his downfall. “We are always at the limit when we are on the bike, whether on the road or behind a car. Normally things go well between the drivers and the other cyclists. But once in a while, like today, it doesn’t pass.”
The motorcycles that caused this accident were excluded from the race for the end of the Tour.