Police officers have intervened and removed protestors from an environmental group called Dernière Rénovation - Last Renovation - after they sat in the road and brought stage 10 of the Tour de France to a halt.
A very large breakaway of some 25 riders were just over seven minutes ahead of the peloton at the time, with Albeto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) having attacked the breakaway and gained 29 seconds on it.
Bettiol was the first to reach the protest group, who sat in the road before being removed by the police, with the race stopping for just over 10 minutes. Some of the protestors were chained together and also ignited flares.
However, while Bettiol easily rode around them, the race was forced to a halt. When it got going again, Bettiol's gap was reinstated, as was the advantage the breakaway held over the trimmed down bunch.
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"Today, nine citizens supporting Last Renovation interrupted the 10th stage of the Tour de France between Morzine and Megève at Magland to stop the mad race towards the annihilation of our society," Dernière Rénovation said in a statement released on social media immediately after the protest.
"We can no longer remain spectators of the ongoing climate disaster. We have 989 days left to save our future, our humanity. The finish line is a ravine and we are calling on our government to turn immediately.
"Our goal is to force legislation to drastically reduce France's emissions, starting with energy renovation, the area most likely to bring together social and climate justice today.
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"This is our last chance to avoid catastrophic and irreversible consequences: deadly heat, extreme weather events, famines, mass migrations, armed conflicts… and this for all the next generations of humans."
