A few days after the controversy surrounding the two motorcycles that blocked Tadej Pogacar’s attack on Jonas Vingegaard on the climb to the Col de Joux Plane on Saturday, the race was once again marred by an incident which had consequences for the final of step.
Tadej Pogacar having let go 15 kilometers from the finish, Jonas Vingegaard had accelerated to increase his lead and head for a coronation in Paris with the hope of being able to grab a second victory in a row the day after his demonstration in the time trial to Combloux .
But the hunt for Felix Gall, who left alone in the endless Col de la Loze (28.1 km at 6%), came to an end. On the rise with his teammate Wilco Kelderman, Jonas Vingegaard was forced to suddenly slow down the pace and even set foot on the ground.
In front of him, a motorcycle trapped by the terrible percentages of the narrow road (24% in some places!) came to a stop in a hairpin bend. Several vehicles were trapped, blocked, including an official Tour de France car. A few seconds lost for the Danish rider, who left immediately, but who certainly said goodbye to his chances for the stage victory even if he seemed to have started with a very substantial delay on the Austrian.
At the end of the day, Thibaut Pinot (11th on the stage) ranted against the organization and a new incident which, according to him, could have gone very wrong: “What bothered me the most shocked it’s the race stopped because of the motorcycles and the car, a motorcycle could have fallen on me it was shameful. I got stuck for at least 30 seconds, I had the bikes almost falling on me, it was rubbish. It was so steep that motorcycles had to stall. We let the cars pass when there are 15 seconds between the groups, there are things that I don’t understand.
