The sprint in the most important moment of the race, the adversary detached, the possible turning point in the race. Then a motorcycle to block the street. And goodbye dreams of glory, at least for now. This is what happened yesterday Tadej Pogacar during the 14th stage of the Tour de France. Today, however, the author of the block made mea culpa: it is a photographer on a motorbike, who apologized to the Slovenian champion for having stopped his attack. As mentioned, Pogacar attacked the yellow jersey holder and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard about 500 meters from the top of the Col de Joux-Plane, but the move was stopped by two motorcycles blocking his way amidst thousands of fans. Race organizers banned both bikes from Sunday’s 15th stage and fined them 500 Swiss francs each.
The photographer, Bernard Papon, who works for the sports newspaper The team, he said: “I will not defend the indefensible. We shouldn’t be in this situation. I should have asked my rider to get away faster and sooner. When I saw Tadej Pogacar speed up, I immediately told my driver. He replied that he could not leave ”. Pogacar played down the crash after the stage but he admitted the crash had seen him wasted energy. His manager, Joxean Matxin, was less forgiving, saying: “Of course he can happen, but the UCI rules are clear. Driving two meters apart is not acceptable.” Vingegaard and Pogacar are engaged in a thrilling battle for the Tour title, with Vingegaard who is only 10 seconds ahead of his rival in the classification general.