There have been appeals for calm at the Tour de France but a lit flare was thrown into the bunch today. Peter Sagan went on to win the stage, his third victory of the race.
Video lit flare thrown at Tour de France riders
Peter Sagan has won his third stage of the Tour de France but a lit flare being thrown into the bunch marred the day.
Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) was too good for the sprinters that remain in the race, winning a close gallop to the line into Valence after 169.5km.
Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) was 2nd and Arnaud Demare 3rd. It was Demare’s FDJ-Groupama team that did much of the work in bringing back the early escape.
And it was a near constant presence on the front. However, despite many of the fastest sprinters having missed the time cut over the previous two stages, he could not convert his chance today.
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As a result of many of the fast men having been eliminated, Sagan is now streets ahead in the points classification. He is chasing his sixth victory in that contest.
He has 398 points so far in the race for the green jersey. Kristoff is next on 170 points and Demare after that on 133.
Dan Martin, a team mate of Kristoff’s, finished safely in the bunch. He was 29th and moved up one place overall due to Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) abandoning.
Dan Martin is now 9th overall; still 5:11 off yellow jersey Geraint Thomas (Team Sky).
Yesterday Nibali crashed on Alpe d’Huez after the strap of a fan’s camera got caught in his handlebars. He was diagnosed with fractured vertebrae after the stage.
Chris Froome was pushed and apparently spat at and he and his Team Sky team mates continue to be booed.
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Top down: BMC's Michael Schar was the last man standing from the breakaway. Geraint Thomas finishes today to complete another stage in yellow, untroubled by the lit flare. He's looked by far the strongest so far but his third week has been his weakness in the past. Sagan faces the many cameras after another victory.
Against that backdrop, the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, had appealed for calm before today’s stage.
But those remarks did not stop a spectator throwing a lit flare into the peloton in the closing stages.
There were no reports of any crashes or injuries as a result. And the video of the incident appears to show the lit flare coming out of the bunch across the road from where it was thrown.
Lit flare went in despite appeal
“We need to restore calm and respect all the riders,” Prudhomme had said after the mountainous stage 12.
“It was a very annoying climb of Alpe d’Huez. The riders on the Tour must be respected, as they are by the large majority of the public.
“It was very calm for 10 days, with only a few anti-Froome or anti-Sky placards. But at a stroke, it all went up again.”
After having had time to catch their breath today the riders head back onto the climbs tomorrow.
Stage 14 takes them 188km from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Mende, with a cat 2 climb at the end.
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