Chaotic scenes as a spectator with a sign takes out the entire Tour de France peloton Bedford News

Chaotic scenes unfolded on the opening stage of the Tour de France on Saturday (June 26) as a spectator with a sign took out the whole peloton.

The incident came after the spectator reached out on the road with their sign pointed at the television cameras, ignoring the proximity of oncoming runners.

Jumbo-Visma’s Tony Martin stuck the sign as he walked past and fell to the ground, causing a massive stack of bikes and riders in his wake as the whole peloton came to a stop.

It took 25 km for the bruised riders to regroup completely, only for the peloton to be separated again by a high speed crash on the downhill approach to Landerneau in France.

British cyclist Chris Froome was among the hardest hit and struggled to get back on his feet after the incident.

Froome finally reached the finish, crossing the line 14 and a half minutes later, and was dispatched for post-race analysis.

The former Tour de France winner had the chance to come out without a fracture, but will start the second stage on Sunday (June 27) with some swelling and bruising.

Writing about the incident on Twitter, the 36-year-old said that was not how he planned the race, but that he was happy to be able to finish it.

He added: “Luckily no broken bones, but there is a lot of swelling and bruising on my left leg and chest. I’ll try to get a good night’s sleep and see what it looks like in the morning. before making a decision with the medical team. Thank you for the many messages of support X. “

Meanwhile, three runners – Jasha Sutterlin, Cyril Lemoine and Ignatas Konovalovas – did not finish and others suffered an uncomfortable night’s sleep.

The overall hopes of several riders already seem lost due to huge loss of time, including Miguel Angel Lopez who is almost two minutes away.

While Thomas and Richard Carapaz managed to avoid the chaos, the quartet of potential contenders of the Ineos Grenadiers have already been halved, with Richie Porte losing two minutes and Tao Geoghegan Hart conceding more than five.

Julian Alaphilippe won the first stage, winning his sixth career Tour stage which will see him wear yellow for the third year in a row.

Alaphilippe exchanged his rainbow jersey of world champion for yellow, overtaking his rivals in the climb of the Côte de la Fosse aux Loups at the end of the 198 km stage from Brest.

The main contenders for fame from Paris, namely Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas, crossed the finish line as a group eight seconds later.

The rest of the peloton arrived with significant gaps due to the two major crashes.

Speaking of his victory, Alaphilippe said: “It’s a scenario that I imagined and I really wanted to do it but of course I had to do it and it’s really great.

“My team did a great job and controlled it all day. At the end I was caught in a fall but we came back and I really had to do the last climb.

“I had to get rid of the sprinters, it wasn’t easy but I did my best and that’s it.