The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Riders caught up in protest
Leaders suffer after police use pepper spray
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme condemned the actions of protesters who forced stage 16 of the race to be temporarily stopped as riders were caught in a cloud of pepper spray.
Race leader Geraint Thomas, Sky team-mate Chris Froome and world champion Peter Sagan were among those affected after police used the spray to break up a protest by farmers, who blocked the road with hay bales.
The race was stopped for 15 minutes yesterday after the incident, 29 km into the 218km stage from Carcassonne to Bagneres-de-Luchon.
Several riders required medical treatment after getting the spray in their eyes and throats.
“Do not add to danger for the cyclists,” Prudhomme said.
Four-time Tour winner Froome said. “My throat, nose and eyes were burning afterwards, but I think quite a lot of riders were in a similar situation so I think we were all grateful for the temporary neutralisation just to have a couple of kilometres to clear our eyes, nose and throat out and then the race continued again.
“Thankfully the effects didn’t last long... Temporarily everything was stinging and burning, but it wore off pretty quickly.”
Thomas said: “It was certainly unfortunate that it was still lingering around when we came through. I could feel it in my eyes, a little bit of tingling.
“I gave them a wash and rinsed my mouth out.
“I was kind of lucky it didn’t affect me too much.”
The incident added to the already heightened tension regarding race security. Froome was jostled and spat at on Alpe d’Huez, while 2014 winner Vincenzo Nibali saw his race ended after he was brought down in a tangle with a fan on the same mountain.
Prudhomme’s point about the dangers riders already face was illustrated by nasty spills for Adam Yates and Philippe Gilbert, who crashed out of the lead in separate incidents.
Gilbert, of Quick-Step Floors , rode to the finish and collected the day’s combativity award, then announced his Tour was over.
The main contenders crossed the line in a group around nine minutes after stage winner Julian Alaphilippe, so there was no change at the top of the general classification.
Thomas continues to lead by one minute and 39 seconds from Froome, with Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin a further 11 seconds behind going into today’s potentially explosive 65km stage from Bagneres-de-Luchon to the summit of the Col du Portet.