But fortunately for Porte and Mollema their bike’s made a decision to work, but for Froome his frame was snapped by the impact.
Advertisement
BMC rider Porte, who was leading Froome and Dutchman Mollema (Trek Segafredo), crashed into a TV motorbike that was held up by the crowd on the road. With the stage plunged into chaos, and no one sure what the rules permitted, a Mavic neutral service vehicle eventually arrived on the scene, giving Froome a comically small yellow bike, which he rode for a few hundred metres before his team auto arrived to give him his spare Pinarello, which he rode to the finish. He signed his first professional cycling contract with Team Saxo-Bank in 2010 and joined Team Sky in 2012, after which he was a key member of the team that assisted Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in winning the 2012, 2013 and 2015 Tours de France.
Initial results saw him lose the overall race lead to Adam Yates, but they were later revised and Froome instead extended his advantage at the top of the general classification to 47 seconds.
ASO and the UCI race commissaires accounted for the weird incident, with Froome remaining in the maillot jaune.
“The Ventoux is full of surprises”, Froome said after receiving his maillot jaune.
“It is what it is, I m really happy with the outcome”. “Awaiting jury decision…”, defending champion Froome tweeted.
Others were less tactful.
“The motorbike could not progress and there was a pile-up in which Chris’s bike was broken”, said Team Sky sports director Nicolas Portal.
Porte was furious. Speaking before the race jury announced its decision, he described the situation as “a mess”. It’s not the motorbikes, it’s the crowd.
I agree that you come to the race, you have a good time, but you dont need to be running beside the riders, you dont need to hitting riders, pushing riders, said Porte, who was being examined for possible injuries.
Amid the drama and controversy, there was humour too.
Like Porte, Froome’s team-mate Geraint Thomas was critical of how the day played out.
Perhaps the classiest comment of all came from Yates, who for an hour or so believed he was set to become only the eighth British rider ever to wear the yellow jersey.
“The organization has to take some blame, and there’s a balance to be found between safety and preserving supporter passion”, said Hatch. “I wanted to take it with my legs”.
Yet the over-riding image that will be repeated many times even long after this Tour finishes, was the sight of the yellow jersey running desperately up the Tour s most revered mountain as his race hopes seemed to be evaporating.
Advertisement
Thousands of people lined the 37.5-kilometre (23-mile) time trial route to celebrate the Tour and pay homage to the dozens killed and injured by a truck which drove through beachfront crowds celebrating Bastille Day.
