Sporting values shine at end of dramatic stage
If the first week of the Tour de France seemed a little short on drama, the second week has more than made up for it plus some; much of it directly involving my Orica-Bike Exchange team and our young British rider, Adam Yates.
Following last week’s incident where the inflatable one kilometre banner collapsed onto Yates, this week he was involved in what is possibly one of the most controversial episodes in world level sport of recent times.
In fulfilling my team duties, I was at Adam’s side from the moment he crossed the finish line on the Mount Ventoux until we had him back at the hotel later that evening. Hence I saw everything play out firsthand and I commend him on his sporting excellence and the morals and values he displayed.
The provisional results had Adam as the new race leader and consequently the wearer of the yellow jersey. He had started the 12th stage 28 seconds behind Chris Froome.
Stage 13 to Mount Ventoux had already being shortened by 6km because of extreme wind at the top of the very exposed mountain and therefore a risk to riders’ safety. However, the finish 6km lower down the slope was still too windy for barriers and this, with the sheer density of fans who were now condensed into 12km instead of 18km, led to the extraordinary scene of Froome attempting to run to the finish.
A knock-on effect of crashes happened when a camera motorbike in front of Froome et al, abruptly stopped as it collided with a spectator. Richie Porte rode straight into the back of the motorbike, followed by Froome and Bauke Mollema. All three hit the deck. A following motorbike then hit them from behind, riding over Froome’s bike and breaking it.
Because of the spread of the athletes on the steep inclines of Mount Ventoux and the narrow passageway through, a spare bike in a follow car was well behind so Froome took to running to the finish in a bid to lessen his time loss.
At this point, Yates was a few seconds behind Froome’s group and was able to ride straight past them and continue on his way to the finish, taking time on his rivals and moving into the leader’s yellow jersey. In short, according to the rules of racing for an uphill finish, a crash or mechanical that inhibits the rider causing them to lose time should not affect the outcome and should be seen as just part of the race, which means that if the rules were followed and applied, Adam would be the yellow jersey wearer.
After the finish the deliberation went on for two hours as all parties concerned were asked their opinion as to what they thought was the right outcome. During this time with Adam, he reiterated one thing over and over: ’’I don’t want the jersey, I do not want the jersey in this way.’’ In all the situations I have ever been in, it is rare that I have seen an athlete with such stoic commitment to his personal values. To me it was a clear example of the value of sport and what it means to different people. In this case you had the ASO [the organisers of the TDF], the UCI [the international governing body that enforces the rules] and the athletes fighting for sporting values.
The athlete reigned supreme and the fact that Adam didn’t want the jersey in such circumstances and that the UCI ruled in contrary to its own rules was a credit to the historical underlying values of sport.