Rowdy Tour de France fans tarnish Alps win for Thomas
ALPE D’HUEZ, France — One of cycling’s big attractions is that fans don’t have to pay to watch — and they can get as close as they want to the riders.
The sport paid for that unlimited access Thursday when unruly spectators interrupted the most iconic climb of the Tour de France.
With fans pressing too close to an elite group of riders at the conclusion of the 21 hairpin bends up to Alpe d’Huez, top contender Vincenzo Nibali crashed into a police motorbike and later withdrew from the race, four-time champion Chris Froome of Team Sky received undesired contact on his back, and his teammate, yellow jersey holder Geraint Thomas, was booed on the podium.
“If people don’t like Sky and want to boo, that’s fine. Boo all you like, but don’t affect the race,” Thomas said. “Don’t touch the riders. Don’t spit at us. Voice your opinions all you want but let us do the racing.”
Attitudes toward Sky soured when Froome was involved in an asthma drug case stemming from last year’s Spanish Vuelta — even though he was cleared of wrongdoing days before the Tour started. Froome is attempting to match the record of five Tour victories shared by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
Thomas sprinted away from Sky teammate Froome and a couple of other riders to win Stage 12, becoming the first rider in Tour history to win atop Huez in the yellow jersey.
Lance Armstrong won an individual time trial up Huez in 2004 while wearing yellow, but that victory was later stripped for doping.
“Unbelievable. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would win up here,” Thomas said. “It’s one of those things that’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life.”
But Thomas acknowledged that Nibali’s crash took some of the lustre away from his victory.
Thomas rode over Nibali’s rear wheel — when the Italian went down — but managed to stay upright. Nibali, the 2014 champion got back up but finished seventh in the stage, then was taken to a local hospital for medical tests for a suspected back injury.
“He should have been fighting for victory,” Thomas said of Nibali. “It’s a bit of a downer on the day.”
Nibali said: “The road became narrower and there were no barriers. There were two police motorbikes. When Froome accelerated, I followed him, I was feeling good. Then we slowed down and I hit the ground.”
Nibali was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra and the Bahrain-Merida rider later tweeted that he was withdrawing from the Tour.
Tom Dumoulin crossed second, two seconds behind Thomas, and Romain Bardet came third, three seconds back.
Froome, who finished fourth, four seconds behind, refused to talk to reporters afterward.
A spectator who allegedly hit him during the stage was put in handcuffs by French police.
“You expect professional athletes to play sport and entertain without being touched or impacted on by the crowd,” Sky general manager Dave Brailsford said. “Part of the joy of our sport is how close the crowd gets. But we have to bear in mind that if it impacts on the race … then that’s too much.”
Thomas extended his lead over Froome in the overall standings to one minute, 39 seconds. He’ll likely hold on to the yellow jersey for at least several more days as the Tour returns to flatter roads for Stages 13 and 14 before the climbs resume in the Massif Central and the Pyrenees.
With questions over which rider Sky is backing for victory, it was a bold demonstration of strength by Thomas, who has been Froome’s loyal lieutenant for years.”
Dumoulin is third overall, 1:50 behind, while Nibali recovered to hold on to fourth, 2:37 back, before withdrawing.
The last and most feared of the three stages in the Alps this year, the 175.5-kilometre leg began in Bourg-Saint-Maurice and took the peloton over three gruelling, beyond-category climbs.
Before Huez, riders had already scaled the lengthy ascents to Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Croix-de-Fer (Pass of the Iron Cross) plus the shorter but spectacular Lacets de Montvernier — a miniature Huez featuring a photogenic series of 18 switchbacks.
Froome attacked with four kilometres to go, but couldn’t quite drop Thomas, Dumoulin and Bardet.