Steve C

Froome, Porte and Mollema had around 23 seconds on Quintana when a motorbike had to brake to avoid the crowds.

Porte went into the back of the bike, followed by Froome and Mollema.

Mollema was up up 1st, followed by Porte, Froome's bike was broke, and when he eventually got a bike from Mavic it was far too small and he couldn't clip in either.

Eventually ESO gave Froome and Porte same time as Mollema, which was 26 seconds ahead of Quintana.

Who knows how much time they would have got had the incident not happened.

work4bike

I don't remember seeing toe clips...did I miss them?


BTW, that bike seemed like it was sized for someone a foot shorter than Foome.

Steve C

You'd think that Mavic would at least have a bike kind of the right size for the yellow jersey.

Perhaps they thought it's the way Chris pedalled after his Stage 8 downhill win.

DLBroox

I'm glad they fixed the standings. No way Movistar had a leg to stand on in that discussion. Quintana was going backwards at the time it happened.

DiabloScott

Neutral service bikes all have toeclips - a compromise so they can be ridden with whatever kind of cleats you have.

Neutral service generally isn't needed for the breakaway riders or the GC contenders since they generally have their team cars to support them - neutral service generally services the riders in the pack or off the back. And when a rider needs a neutral service whole bike, it's generally not for very long because the team car will get back to them eventually. Today was a unique situation.

Was the SKY car actually between the Yates group and the Froome group?

edit - nope, it was back behind the Quintana group.

DLBroox

What was he thinking when he was running? I'm going to finish the race even if I have to run? It was all so awful to watch live. I really was horrified for him.

DeceptivelySlow

You did not miss them. The neutral service bike given to Froome did not have toe clips.

work4bike

Yes, I just read this and it explains it more, but I still have questions... Why was Froome unable to use neutral service bike? | Cyclist

Caretaker

I thought before the stage that with the last 6km taken out that you were likely to get about the same number of spectators squeezed onto 10kms instead of 16 and that this would cause problems.

On a positive side great to see a gentlemen's agreement kicking in after the earlier slide-out incident where an OBE rider took out a couple of Froome's team mates.

Freaky weather this year playing havoc with the race.

MinnMan

I thought he was looking for a car with a bike that he could ride. But I dunno.

Andy_K 

cooker

wow, and thanks

HardyWeinberg

You don't need to clip in to turn the cranks, I was underwhelmed with that whole thing. I am glad Froome had panache to spare from yesterday's sprint and the downhill attack that put him in yellow in the first place. If the neutral bike was outright broken that would be a bummer and would explain what happened, but I assume Sky wouldn't be shy about saying so if that were the case.

Wspsux

so....what does Porte have to say about all this?

Jakedatc

Richie Porte (BMC Racing) — speaking prior to the jury decision: “The crowd was just all on the road and the motorbike just stopped right in front of me. I had nowhere to go and next minute straight over the top of the motorbike. It was just a mess. Froome’s on my wheel, straight into me. I don’t now what you’re going to do, but they need to do something about it, because it’s not fair. One minute we’re 23 seconds in front, the next thing, for something so silly, everybody’s back on us. [This] can’t stand. It can’t happen like that. Surely the jury has to look at it and use some sort of discretion because, I mean, if you can’t control the crowds then what can you control? It’s not really the motorbikes, it’s the crowd. They’re just in your face the whole time, pushing riders.”

Jakedatc

The mechanic grabbed Froome the easiest bike to get on the outside. it was L not XL.. they all have quick release posts but i bet he didnt wait to fix it. I also bet that one had Look pedals not Shimano. wanted him to be on A bike with 1k to go instead of running. anything is faster than no bike.

More details of Froome crash from Mavic neutral service - VeloNews.com

79pmooney

I read an interview with a one of the Mavic support tea min that car. The bikes they had several different sizes and set up with several different types of clipless pedals. They grabbed the bike on the near side of the car because it was closest, knowing it was too small and had Mavic pedals instead whatever cleat Froome uses. He didn't have toeclips.

Ben

TCR Rider

Was that the Tour de France or the Red Hook Crit at the end of the stage today? The race organizers should be taken out and shot. Total lack of crowd control. Where were the barriers for the last km. Not to mention that the stage was shortened by 6 km so all those savages, er I mean spectators, and funneled down to the new finish and no barriers. Recipe for disaster.

Great rides by DeGendt and Greipel totally lost in the bedlam.

tinrobot

The UCI rules require a rider to cross the finish line with a bicycle.

Riders run towards team cars to get bikes all the time, regulating all movement on foot would be difficult.

DLBroox

Now that makes sense.

Steve C

Why were the crowds booing Froome at the yellow jersey presentation?

Thought everybody, including the teams believed the decision was the correct one.

Jakedatc

apparently there was a bit of shady stuff before that when Ian Stannard crashed and Froome stopped and apparently called for the peleton to slow down too.. that kinda got lost in the shuffle of everything.

PepeM

Because the French don't like him.

Mollema and Trek disagree.

gaucho777 

^Just speculating that the fans at the finish didn't have all the same information. They may have seen the order of the finishers at the line and then the revised results smacked of favoritism. Also can't overlook the fact that provisional results had Frenchman Roman Bardet in 4th, 0:28 behind Yates, then revised to 5th at 1:12 behind Froome.

PepeM

That definitely played a part too. I bet no one in there had any clue of what exactly was going on.