Pogacar attack foiled
Tour suspends motorcycle crews after disability
07/15/2023 9:06 p.m
Before the last and highest climb of the 14th stage of the Tour de France, Pogacar attacks last year’s winner Vingegaard – and has to stop. Support motorcycles block the narrow lane to the summit. The race control does not let the incident rest.
After the braking maneuver against professional cyclist Tadej Pogacar, the organizers of the Tour de France punished two motorcycle crews. A TV and a photographer’s motorcycle will be closed for the 15th stage tomorrow, Sunday. In addition, both crews have to pay a fine of 500 Swiss francs (around 515 euros), as the tour organizer ASO announced.
Both bikes had blocked an attack by second overall Pogacar on leader Jonas Vingegaard about 500 meters before crossing the Col de Joux Plane. Pogacar had started, but had to brake after 20 meters because the road was blocked by the motorcycles driving side by side.
Pogacar downplayed the incident at the finish but admitted he wasted power unnecessarily. At the top of the pass, the 24-year-old was unable to counter a counterattack to sprint for bonus seconds against Vingegaard. The 26-year-old gained three seconds more than Pogacar and extended his lead to ten seconds by the end of the stage – with a total riding time of 57 hours and 47 minutes since the start.
On top of that, the hill sprint earned Vingegaard 20 points in the polka dot jersey rankings for best hill climber – five more than Pogacar, who finished second in that sprint. The Dane took over the overall lead in this ranking, ahead of Neilson Powless, who had the same number of points. The categories of the won ratings are decisive for the order. Pogacar is third.