A so-called fan ran out into the road and gave Froome a shove sideways. The French police moved in and arrested a man.
Video fan arrested as Froome pushed on Alpe d'Huez
A man has been arrested by French police after an incident in which Chris Froome was pushed yesterday on Alpe d’Huez.
The suspect was photographed handcuffed sitting on the road with two police officers by his side.
His arrest followed an incident in which a man pushed Froome close to the top of the climb.
The TV footage, a very short snippet of which can be seen below, showed a man run alongside the favourites’ group.
He then reached into the group and with his left hand pushed Froome’s right shoulder.
While Froome wasn’t thrown off his line, the man who pushed him clearly made contact with some force.
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And the reigning Tour champion, who is 2nd overall behind team mate Geraint Thomas, also appeared to be spat at by another fan.
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) is also out of the race after the strap of a fan’s camera caught his bars and brought him down.
Montée de L’Alpe : un spectateur tente de frapper (?) Christopher Froome #Tour2018 pic.twitter.com/JV5RR07G7K
— Matthieu Brandely (@m_brandely) July 19, 2018
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Yellow jersey and stage winner Thomas yesterday urged fans not to spit or make contact with the riders.
“I didn't see that,” he said of Froome being shoved on Alpe d'Huez. “But if people don't like Sky and want to boo that's fine. Boo all you like.
“But just let us race. Don't affect the race. Don't touch the riders or spit at us.
“Have a bit of decency, like. Just voice your opinion all you want. But let us do the racing.
“It’s professional sport. And you expect professional athletes to play and entertain without being impacted on by the crowd.
“I know that this is part of the joy of our sport; how close the crowd gets. But we know that if impacts the race as it did today with Nibali then that's too much.”
The booing of Team Sky and the other incidents follow a poor reception for them generally at the Tour.
They have consistently been booed; from the team presentation and through every stage so far.
For almost two years the team has been mired in controversy. Details of TUEs availed of by Bradley Wiggins before key goals, including the 2012 Tour that he won, showed he was using corticosteroids.
Wiggins broke no rules and said the medicines were for the treatment of allergies. But other riders believed the medicines would have aided his performance and were unethical.
The Daily Mail then broke a story about a jiffy bag being delivered to Team Sky in France in 2011; apparently with a product for Wiggins.
Team Sky has been unable prove what was in the bag. But it has insisted it contained a decongestant and nothing illegal.
There is no evidence whatever there was anything banned in the bag. However, the team’s inability to explain what it contained has damaged Team Sky.
And just as it was recovering from those controversies, Froome returned a higher than permitted level of salbutamol in a urine sample at last year’s Vuelta, which he won.
He was only cleared to ride this Tour days before it started. The case against him was discontinued after Team Sky showed the salbutamol testing procedures were not reliable.
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