The flamme rouge inflatable gets a puncture and falls down on the riders at the Tour de France at the end of stage 7 today, Friday.
The riders in the Tour de France faced the first big climbs of the race on today’s stage 7 but for some the going got really tough in the final kilometre.
With the best of the breakaway men having already stayed away to fight it out for stage honours – going to Steve Cummings of Dimension Data – the majority of the general classification favourites were in a big group just over four minutes back.
Young Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) took a flier from that group coming up to the final kilometre.
The Briton distanced them by a margin in his bid to gain time but as he went until the flamme rogue inflatable across the road signalling 1km to the finish, it fell down on him causing him to crash.
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And when the general classification men arrived at the scene seconds later, the inflatable had crashed down on the road and they had to sneak under it, as the clip below shows.
Yates was sporting a cut and bloodied face when he reached the finish, a very unsatisfactory end to the 162.5km stage from I'Isle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle that took in the Col d'Aspin.
Race leader Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) were both in the breakaway.
And while they faded to place 5th and 4th respectively, Nibali clawed 2:15 back of the time he lost overall in the opening days of the race and Van Avermaet increased his lead by over one minute.
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Of the Irish today, Dan Martin was 15th; the Etixx-QuickStep man in the group of general classification big names some 4:29 down.
We had no word of Sam Bennett (Bora Argon 18) at the time of writing.
Red kite gets a puncture
The awkward moment when you're wiped out by a giant inflatable #TDF2016 https://t.co/AIudlK9f4E
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) July 8, 2016
Stage 7: l'Isle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle (162.5km)
1 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 3:51:58
2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-BikeExchange 0:01:05
3 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:05
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:14
5 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:03:04
6 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:04:29
7 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
8 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky
9 Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
General Classification
1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 34:13:40
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:06:36
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:38
4 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:06:39
5 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:06:42
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:06:42
7 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:06:42
8 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac 0:06:42
9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:06:42
10 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:06:42
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