It was crowded, maybe a little too much even for such steep slopes. The Col de la Loze, summit of the Tour de France this year, did damage this Wednesday during the 17th stage between Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc and Courchevel. And not just on runners. During the last part, the hardest with passages at more than 20%, motorcycles and racing vehicles have difficulty making their way through the crowd. And in a bend, what we feared happened: a motorcycle stalled and had all the difficulty in the world to set off again on such a slope, dragging behind it a small traffic jam which bothered the riders.
Among them, Jonas Vingegaard, who was trying to get back to the lead with his teammate Wilco Kelderman. The yellow jersey was forced to dismount before leaving, pushed by a spectator. Not for that that he did not win the stage, finally won by the Austrian Félix Gall, but we imagine that this cut must not have done his legs any good.
The Dane is not the only one in this case. After the finish, Thibaut Pinot, who was part of the breakaway, explained that he was blocked “at least thirty seconds”. “A motorcycle almost fell on me, it’s shameful, nothing,” he said, reassembled. It was so steep that some bikes had to stall. But we let the cars pass when there are not even 15 seconds between the groups, I don’t understand. »