Yep. Moto blocked by spectators. Froomes bike got broken. Neutral bike had wrong pedals (from tv)

that video ! 😯

I can’t see them letting the times stand on arrival at the top, though IMO it’d still be froome’s tour even if they did (assuming uninjured)

6km worth of crowd pissed-up arseholes moved back down the road made it a bit of a squeeze

presumably, on usual form anyway

Well, that was a bit of a cluster ****.

I bet Porte’s chin is sore. Looks like he chin butted the back of the moto.

French TV says road was blocked by spectators so motobike had to stop

Seems to be the only scenario that matches the video from the back of the moto.

1-200m block of spectators where nothing could pass (tv)

Did Porte finish?

Yep, ahead of Nairo etc. I think.

Provisionals have Froome back in fifth sixth now. Are they really going to present Yates the yellow in these circumstances?

EDIT: Apparently not!

‘Panicked huddle’

I’d say

Richie

“The crowd was all over the road and the motorbike just stopped, we had nowhere to go. [Froome] was on my wheel, he went straight into the back of me. We were 23 seconds ahead, it’s not fair… it can’t stand, surely the jury has to look at it and use a bit of discretion. The crowd are in your face the whole time, pushing riders… at the top, that was just crazy.”

Well if Froome had been looking were he was going and not at his stem then he probably could have avoided it.

Did Porte finish?

Yep, ahead of Nairo etc. I think.[/quote]

30 sec down.

http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2016/us/stage-12/classifications.html

I bet there’s some world class Euro-British negotiations going on at the moment.

Theresa if you need some experienced negotiators…

Cant believe what went on!

Ridiculous.

Give him and Porte Mollema’s time I reckon

I hope Stannard is ok 🙁

Result should stand, it would be even more farcical to dish out random times to riders. And its a bike race surely running without one is against the rules??

No doubt riders will whine which ever way it goes 😡

When the red 1Km kite fell on to Adam Yates and also held up the peloton a few stages ago they adjusted the times though in that instance it wasn’t a mountain finish so had the timing mats at the 3Km mark and could work out time differences and be able to adjust them.

Give him and Porte Mollema’s time I reckon

Sensible option. Not a mechanical. Not an unforced error. Crowd interference caused the issue – nowt to do with the racers.
And even Mollema will have lost 10-30 seconds against the chasing pack due to the crash so it’s not doing down the other GC guys.

And its a bike race surely running without one is against the rules??

I doubt it. You may find that the rider needs to cross the line on an actual bike but completing distance within the stage without one is unlikely to be against the rules.

Madness on Mont Ventoux! Chris Froome ends up running up it?! Don't miss the full #TDF2016 highlights at 7pm @ITV4 pic.twitter.com/Y2FKdEMpBC

— ITV4 (@ITV4) July 14, 2016

what an absolute joke, no way can that result stand. I’d be embarrased to pick up the yellow in those circumstances. Obvious decision is to give sametime as Mollenma. If not and Froom is down to 6th then it makes the whole tour result totally irrelevant.

Wow that’s scary! I think the riders are entitled to whine at that one!
Times surely have to be adjusted, no rider error at all and the time turnaround that was a. on the cards, and b. that actually transpired would be a p*ss take!

If only he could make a deal with God, get him to swap their places…

Commentators seemed to suggest there were no rules to cover crowd interference, just moto mechanicals. So there’s no guide on if and how times should be adjusted in this sort of scenario. Guess you can’t just make up rules on the fly 😕

I barely ever watch pro rider stages, but https://streamable.com/cqiw looks completely ridiculous to me, the motorcyclists and racers should have all the tarmac to themselves, free of spectators.

If this was rallying, this stage would be scrapped.

the nice thing to happen would have been for the other riders to neutrilise the race. never going to happen however.

from Froomes twitter feed….Awaiting jury decision

Froomes and Portes times can’t stand they had absolutely dicked on Quintana. His race was over but if the result stands he’d be right back in it.

they should consult the Labour Party NEC for a quick check of the rule book…

the nice thing to happen would have been for the other riders to neutrilise the race. never going to happen however.

By the time they got there (some 30s down the road) they’d have no idea what was going on or what happened.

French telly said that the rule concerning road blockages could be interpreted to include crowds, but its all hypothesising

It seems the race judges are trying to understand if they can take the times at the moment that Froome, Porte and Mollema crashed.

from http://live.cyclingnews.com/

It is effectively a road blockage, whether it’s a bunch of pissed-up spectators or a train, or a herd of cows.

TBF did the other riders see it? If not you can hardly expect them to stop and wait.

Unfortunately the race is victim of its own success.

TBF did the other riders see it? If not you can hardly expect them to stop and wait.

Unfortunately the race is victim of its own success.

@mrblobby – you can’t realistically have rules covering *everything*, quite often they get introduced retrospectively in response to incidents like this, but the general guidelines can be applied. In effect it’s the commissaires’ wiggle room.

If they don’t neutralise it, what stops fans blocking the route in say the mountain TT after their favourite rider has gone by?

It would just get silly.

martinhutch – Member
If only he could make a deal with God, get him to swap their places…

😀