Britain’s Adam Yates, wearing the best young rider’s white jersey, Belgium’s Thomas de Gendt, wearing the best climber’s dotted jersey, Peter Sagan of Slovakia, wearing the best sprinter’s green jersey, Britain’s Chris Froome, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, and Stage victor Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin lay flowers after observing a minute of silence to commemorate the victims of the Nice truck attack on the podium the thirteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race, an individual time trial over 37.5 kilometers (23 miles) with start in Bourg-Saint-Andeol and finish in La Caverne du Pont-d’Arc, France, Friday, July 15, 2016.
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Tom Dumoulin won but couldn’t even force himself to break into a smile, while Chris Froome, who extended his overall lead, was visibly emotional and refused to answer “sporting” questions.
A gunman smashed a truck into a crowd of revellers celebrating Bastille Day on July 14, 2016 in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing at least 84 people in what President Francois Hollande called a “terrorist” attack. And I think it was right to go on racing.
“I woke up this morning and learnt something bad had happened. I wondered if the Tour would continue or not”, said Dumoulin.
But the decision had been made to race, so race the riders did. It’s horrific what happened but we can not let terrorists decide on how we should be living.
Eric Luzet, the police liaison officer to the Tour, told The Associated Press that extra security measures were implemented overnight, with 600 police officers overseeing the stage.
Following Friday morning meetings with police, government, regional and security officials to discuss security arrangements, Tour director Christian Prudhomme vowed the race would continue “in sobriety and with dignity” – and there was a visibly stronger security presence.
Yates had expected to lose time on this stage and duly gave up nearly two minutes to Froome, at least better than the four minutes he predicted.
Starting well before the race’s overall leaders on a day featuring 70-kph (45-mph) winds, Dumoulin dominated the 37.5-kilometer (23-mile) race against the clock from Bourg-Saint-Andeol to La Caverne du Pont-D’arc, the decorated cave that contains human drawings from about 30,000 years ago.
Froome now leads the overall classification by 1:47 over Dutchman Bauke Mollema.
“With what is happening in France, it gives a different perspective about the race”.
He said he felt particularly affected as he lives in Monaco, a short way along the Mediterranean coast from Nice.
“I’ve been asked that a lot of times”, Dumoulin said.
“It’s somewhere pretty close to home for me, somewhere I do a lot of training, and to see the promenade the way it was yesterday evening with bodies over the road is horrific, horrific scenes”. For others it brought into context just how vulnerable an event like the Tour can be, attracting thousands of fans to cram together along the roadside to watch each and every stage.
Twenty four hours before he crossed the line here, Froome had been caught in a chaotic and freaky end to stage 12 on Mont Ventoux where he crashed along with Mollema and former team-mate Richie Porte when a television motorbike was caught in huge crowds on the mountain.
“I don’t feel safe here in France”, the former world champion wrote on Facebook.
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“But like I’ve said many times before I will definitely be focusing on a Grand Tour GC in the future but I can’t already say when that will be”. “I’m afraid for the cyclists and for the fans”. Despite the Nice attacks, some were still focused on what they’d come to France for.
