PROTEST, TEAR GAS HALT RACE LEADERS

CURRENT leader Geraint Thomas and four-time champion Chris Froome were among the riders who had to seek medical treatment last night after tear gas was used to break up a protest that halted Stage 16 of the Tour de France.

French and British media said local farmers threw bales of hay on to the road on the route from Carcassonne to Bagneres-de-Luchon. Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, but it ended up blowing in the face of the riders, which led to the race being briefly stopped with 187km remaining in the stage.

A press photographer at the scene said Froome and other riders had eye drops applied while they were stopped for several minutes.

Meanwhile, Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford has poured petrol on the fan-behaviour flames, claiming roadside hostility at this year’s Tour de France is a “French cultural thing”.

Sky has been booed and jeered during the race, while Froome has been spat at and pushed by a spectator.

The tension surrounding the team stems largely from Froome’s salbutamol case, which was cleared by WADA on the eve of the race.

But Brailsford blamed the host nation for the aggression.

“It’s interesting. We raced in Italy and Chris’s case was open when we were at the Tour of Italy and the Italians were fantastic, to be fair to them. The Spanish, fantastic. It just seems to be a French thing,” Brailsford said.

“I’m not sure that they [the French] would have liked their football players spat at in Russia [at the World Cup]. I’m sure that there would be a word or two about that. But it’s OK to spit on us and our staff.”