Sports Nut

The Englishman Who Jogged Up a Mountain

Tour de France leader Chris Froome’s bike got smashed by a motorcycle. So he took off running.

CYCLING-TOUR/

Yellow jersey leader and Team Sky rider Chris Froome of Britain falls on the road in the Tour de France on July 14, 2016.

Bernard Papon/Pool/Reuters

Chris Froome started the 12th stage of the Tour de France wearing the leader’s yellow jersey. After an accident involving a motorbike, followed by a brief jog up a mountain, the two-time Tour champion somehow retained his lead.

Here’s Lance Armstrong’s brief description of the day’s events:

Now for a longer explanation. Stage 12 ended with a climb up the notorious Mont Ventoux, which is hard enough to ascend when the roads are clear. The Tour de France, littered as it is with team support cars and jackasses in devil costumes, adds a bunch of obstacles to the mix. On Thursday, Australian racer Richie Porte ran into one: a camera-carrying motorbike that stopped suddenly in the middle of the course due to a blockage up the road. Dutch cyclist Bauke Mollema collided with Porte, and then the race leader Froome got tangled up in the crash. While Porte and Mollema were able to get off the ground and remount their rides, Froome’s bike got trashed.

According to the New York Times:

Another motorcycle ran over Froome’s Pinarello bicycle, breaking it. Mechanics who provide service to riders when their team cars are not nearby were immediately on the scene. But they were traveling by motorcycle and had only spare wheels to offer.

Froome’s solution: Run up the mountain.

Contesting the Tour de France in a bipedal fashion is not strictly legal, given that it is a bicycle race. “You’ve got to carry your bike!” exclaimed NBC Sports announcer Phil Liggett. “You can’t just go for a hike up the country lanes of Mont Ventoux. … I have no idea how the referees will decide this.” Regardless, Froome continued to jog while spectators reached out to grab at him. After a minute or so, “neutral services”—a vehicle that helps riders out when their team cars aren’t around—provided Froome with what the Times termed “one of the rarely used generic bicycles from its roof.” That new ride didn’t work: It was too small, and Froome couldn’t clip into the pedals. By the time the British rider’s Team Sky finally showed up with a replacement bike, the stage leaders had left him far behind. Froome finished 25th in the stage, 6 minutes and 45 seconds back, losing enough time to bump him to sixth in the overall standings.

After provisionally awarding the lead to Froome’s fellow Brit Adam Yates, race organizers decided to give the yellow jersey back to Froome. “We took an exceptional decision because of this exceptional situation, an incident that might have never happened before in 100 years,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme explained. “There will be an investigation to find out why the TV motorbike was blocked and the riders fell.”

Froome, who was not penalized for going for a mid-race jog, praised the director’s decision:

The Ventoux is full of surprises. In the last kilometer, a motorbike broke in front of us and made us crash. Another motorbike came from behind and broke my bike. That’s how I became a walker. I knew the car with my spare bike was five minutes behind. I’m very happy with the commissaires’ decision. It’s the correct one. Thanks to them and to the Tour de France organization.

While the motorbike seemed to be the main culprit for the crash, the unruly crowds didn’t help. Porte slammed the fans, according to the Guardian:

“The crowd was on their own, I had to stop riding because I had nowhere to go and went straight over the motorbike. It’s just a mess,” Porte said. “[Froome’s] on my wheel and went straight into me. I don’t know what they’re going to do but they need to do something about it, it’s not fair.

“That can’t stand, can’t happen like that. A jury has to look at it and use some discretion. If they can’t control the crowds what can they control? It’s not really about motorbikes, it’s about the crowd. They’re in your face the whole time, pushing riders. It’s just crazy.”

Fan interference is nothing new to the Tour de France. Just a few days ago, Froome punched a yellow-wigged fan who got a little too close to him on the side of the road.

Two years ago, Jada Yuan of New York wrote about how selfie-taking spectators cause crashes. Then there’s this video from 2011 of a single fan bringing the entire peloton to a brief stop. Stand back, people!

Should you want any more Tour de France collisions, Deadspin has you covered with the “Top 15 Cringeworthy Tour de France Crashes.” The Tour resumes on Friday with Stage 13, a time trial from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont-d’Arc. The race finishes in Paris on Sunday July 24.