Arnaud Demare fights to make the time cut, but Andre Greipel very publicly questioned how he did it.
Greipel questions Demare on Tour de France time cut
Arnaud Demare is one of the very few sprinters left in the Tour de France after the time cut eliminated many in the second week.
Yesterday the big Frenchman was dropped early on the 65km climbing stage. He finished second last, some 29:16 down. But he lives to fight another day.
Furthermore, today's stage 18 could be one for the sprinters. And the final stage on Sunday into Paris should also be another chance for the Groupama-FDJ sprinter.
So his surviving yesterday, against all the odds, now creates a chance of a stage win, or even two.
However, Andre Greipel is one of the sprinters out of the race. He pulled out on stage 12 to Alpe d'Huez.
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He had fallen so far behind, with others, that he had no chance of making the time cut.
But yesterday when Demare was dropped so early yet survived, Greipel took to Twitter. He said somebody should remind Demare and his team there was GPS tracking on the race.
In his Tweet to Demare and the team, since deleted, Greipel then added sarcastically: "Chapeau to lose to just nine minutes on a 17km climb to Nairo Quintana."
Demare replied below, in a Tweet translated as: "Thank you for the respect you have given me, my dear Andre Greipel.
"I liked you. And I thought you were smarter. The commissioners were all around us all the time. I'm sending you my files. Since you are an expert I let you tell me what you think."
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Some fans pointed out online that a camera crew and reporter from Germany were in the broom wagon all day. And they said on air that Demare did not take any tows off vehicles.
Others also said Demare lost nine minutes to riders who climbed the final mountain much slower than Quintana.
Merci pour le respect que tu m'accordes mon cher @AndreGreipel. Je t'aimais bien. Et je te pensais plus intelligent. Les commissaires étaient tout le temps autour de nous. Je t'envoie mes fichiers. Vu que tu es un expert je te laisse me dire ce que tu en penses...
— Arnaud Demare (@ArnaudDemare) July 25, 2018
Gilbert proudly sports his injury
Meanwhile, one man who - unlike Demare - has gone home is Philippe Gilbert. He went down in the folklore of the race when he finished Tuesday’s stage despite suffering a fractured kneecap.
The 36-year-old Belgian was leading solo with 59km of the stage remaining. On the descent of the Col de Portet-d’Aspet the QuickStep rider misjudged a bend and crashed.
He remounted and completed the stage, within the time limit. But it was clear he was out of the race when his knee fracture was later diagnosed.
And so he has taken to Twitter to do what any self-respecting hard man with a kneecap fracture would do; he hs shown off his injury 24 hours later at its worst, below.
When you have a broken knee cap and decide to keep going for another 60km ? pic.twitter.com/cGoidtQH3w
— PHILIPPE GILBERT (@PhilippeGilbert) July 25, 2018
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