Tour de France Diary, Stage 14: Saboteurs cause chaos for Evans, field
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Cadel Evans punctures as saboteurs hit the Tour de France (Image: AFP / Fred Mons)
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Cadel Evans was forced to wait by the road with three separate tyre punctures for more than two minutes after nail throwers hit the 2012 Tour de France overnight, causing mayhem.
Last night the peloton completed stage 14, the first of the Pyrenean stages at this year’s Tour de France – a 191km ride from Limoux to Foix.
Conditions went from sunny at kilometre zero to overcast and drizzly come the mid-point of proceedings.
Three categorised climbs, including two back-to-back category one ascents near the finish, qualified the day’s racing as a medium mountain stage – the majority of which went by without incident.
There was a breakaway that hovered 14 to 16 minutes up the road and each member of the top 10 overall was safely ensconced in the main field.
Then all hell broke loose, as countless riders suffered flat tyres for no immediately apparent reason at the summit of the Mur de Péguère in farcical scenes.
But there was a reason.
Small nails or tacks had been scattered on the road – presumably by spectators.
The man worst affected was Australian contender Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), who required three wheel changes in quick succession.
Forced to wait under the polka dot banner for more than a minute, one could not blame Evans for getting hot under the collar – his team car was nowhere to be seen.
What else could possibly go wrong for the defending Tour champion?
BMC domestique Amael Moinard reached his team leader first, but an issue with the Frenchman’s rear tyre prevented Evans from swapping it onto his own bike.
More waiting around at the top of the climb ensued until – finally – the Australian sourced a new wheel.
Tacks on the road in the Tour (Cadel Evans photo via Lockerz)
Evans endured two further flats on the descent. It was a nightmarish series of events.
What made things worse was that BMC appeared to be preparing for an attack on the technical downhill run off the mountain.
Bradley Wiggins (Sky Pro Cycling) was one of many others to suffer similar problems, the difference being that his one wheel change was completed in well under 10 seconds.
Evans’ largely ineffectual attack on the way up the Mur de Péguère seemed a distant memory as the 35-year-old worked alongside his team to bridge the gap between he and the peloton.
With the notable exception of ninth-placed Pierre Rolland (Europcar), the main field (led by Sky) showed great sportsmanship by slowing down for Evans.
Rolland instead chose to attack, forcing Lotto-Belisol and Liquigas-Cannondale to chase in the interests of Jurgen Van Den Broek and Vincenzo Nibali respectively.
Fortunately the Frenchman was caught with enough distance remaining for the peloton to mutually agree to turn off all cylinders.
Rolland will surely receive some harsh words for what was either a woeful lack of awareness or an act of selfish opportunism.
The tack pandemonium should not be allowed to overshadow the efforts of escape artiste Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank), who won the stage after attacking from the break.
Sanchez was one of four surviving members of what was originally an 11-man leading group. The other three were green jersey holder Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Sandy Casar (FDJ-Big Mat) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing).
It was a remarkable show of mental and physical fortitude by Sanchez, who is still recovering from the broken wrist he suffered on stage one.
Earlier, Sagan took maximum points at the intermediate sprint in Tarascon-sur-Ariège.
The Slovak’s second-place finish on the stage further extended his lead in the classification to a whopping 97 points.
Greipel was the first member of the main field to the sprint point, crossing in ninth and scoring seven points.
Stage 12 “Give Him the Game Ball” award winner Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) was forced to abandon the race after a crash on the final descent.
Tomorrow’s stage 15 from Samatan to Pau should be an opportunity for the sprinters, but the rolling terrain could prove conducive to a breakaway.
Tour de France Stage 14 Results
Rider, Team, Points
1. SANCHEZ Luis Leon, RABOBANK, 04h 50′ 29″
2. SAGAN Peter, LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE, 04h 51′ 16″ + 00′ 47″
3. CASAR Sandy, FDJ-BIG MAT, 04h 51′ 16″ + 00′ 47″
4. GILBERT Philippe, BMC RACING, 04h 51′ 16″ + 00′ 47″
5. IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI Gorka, EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI, 04h 51′ 16″ + 00′ 47″
6. PAULINHO Sergio, SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK, 04h 53′ 20″ + 02′ 51″
7. MINARD Sebastien, AG2R LA MONDIALE, 04h 53′ 20″ + 02′ 51″
8. VELITS Martin, OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK-STEP, 04h 54′ 18″ + 03′ 49″
9. VORGANOV Eduard, KATUSHA, 04h 55′ 20″ + 04′ 51″
10. KRUIJSWIJK Steven, RABOBANK, 04h 55′ 22″ + 04′ 53″
Tour de France Points Classification
Rider, Team, Points
1. SAGAN Peter, LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE, 333
2. GREIPEL Andre, LOTTO-BELISOL, 236
3. GOSS Matthew Harley, ORICA-GREENEDGE, 203
4. CAVENDISH Mark, SKY PRO CYCLING, 129
5. BOASSON HAGEN Edvald, SKY PRO CYCLING, 125
Tour de France KOM Classification
Rider, Team, Points
1. KESSIAKOFF Fredrik, ASTANA, 69
2. ROLLAND Pierre, EUROPCAR, 55
3. SORENSEN Chris Anker, SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK, 39
4. VOECKLER Thomas, EUROPCAR, 33
5. SCARPONI Michele, LAMPRE-ISD, 33
Tour de France Overall Standings
Rider, Team, Time, Gaps
1. WIGGINS Bradley, SKY PROCYCLING, 64h 41’ 16″
2. FROOME Christopher, SKY PRO CYCLING, 64h 43’ 21″ + 02′ 05″
3. NIBALI Vincenzo, LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE, 64h 43’ 39″ + 02′ 23″
4. EVANS Cadel, BMC RACING, 64h 44’ 35″ + 03′ 19″
5. VAN DEN BROEK Jurgen, OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK-STEP, 64h 46’ 04″ + 04′ 48″
6. ZUBELDIA Haimar, RADIOSHACK-NISSAN, 64h 47’ 31″ + 06′ 15″
7. VAN GADREREN Tejay, BMC RACING, 64h 48’ 13″ + 06′ 57″
8. BRAJKOVIC Janez, ASTANA, 64h 48’ 46″ + 07′ 30″
9. ROLLAND Pierre, EUROPCAR, 64h 49’ 47″ + 08′ 31″
10. PINOT Thibaut, FDJ-BIG MAT, 64h 50’ 07″ + 08′ 51″
Stage 14 “Give Him the Game Ball” Award: The peloton – for showing outstanding sportsmanship in sitting up to wait for Cadel Evans in unique, thumb tack induced circumstances.
Dramatic day here at the Tour…3x punctured in the last 38km-all from tacks. If it wasn’t for my (BMC) boys… #tdflockerz.com/s/225299751
— Cadel Evans (@CadelOfficial) July 15, 2012
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The Crowd Says (16) | Page 1 of Comments
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- Cadel Evans, Cycling, Tour de France
July 16th 2012 @ 9:12am
Eric George said | July 16th 2012 @ 9:12am | Report comment
I’m not sure that the Peleton chased down Rolland. When they eventually decided to go ahead and catch him, he was around 2 minutes ahead, but briefly afterwards he was pretty much freewheeling as he got caught by the pack. It seemed like an awfully quick chase, with the more likely scenario that he finally got the message from the team director to stop being a jerk and slow up.
Was certainly a dramatic stage, and a beautiful one too. Liggett and Sherwin kept wondering why no more attacks came up that final climb, but I think once Sky got three riders up the front, everyone was just trying to keep uo. Once Froome is up there it seems pointless to attack, he’s demonstrated more explosive acceleration up a hill than anyone else in the tour this year
July 16th 2012 @ 4:21pm
Kit Harvey said | July 16th 2012 @ 4:21pm | Report comment
Lotto-Belisol and Liquigas came to the front and the tempo lifted immensely until Rolland was back in the fold. Glad they got him, could have been a misunderstanding so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.
He got a gap of between one and two minutes. Took a while to get to him.
This Tour the status quo has been Sky having Porte and Rogers at the head of affairs on the climbs. Strangely Cavendish was there for a while on the final climb too – not exactly the greatest advertisement for a mountain stage I would say!
July 16th 2012 @ 10:51am
DanMan said | July 16th 2012 @ 10:51am | Report comment
I don’t think that was an attack by Cadel – more just about positioning. Punctures aside (which happened at the top) it was pretty frustrating watching noone attack that climb. Major anticlimax.
July 16th 2012 @ 2:44pm
Kit Harvey said | July 16th 2012 @ 2:44pm | Report comment
Positioning and preparing for a possible attack tend to look fairly similar. It was good to see though, wasn’t it? Until the chaos started…
July 16th 2012 @ 11:37am
liquorbox_ said | July 16th 2012 @ 11:37am | Report comment
I think that BMC as a team made a mistake in not changing Evans bike at the top of the mountain, there was a better than average chance that he would have had a tack in the other tyre so they should have changed both, or the bike as a whole.
I have no issue in what Rolland did, he was not attacking the Yellow Jersey, did the entire field have to slow down? NO! He wants to win and good on him for it. Evans was not even in the top 2 so why wait? I think the comments by Australian commentators both pro and amateur attacking him are only because it involved Evans.
I think Rolland should only go “neutral” if it was riders within 3 minutes of his place, not 8 minutes.
Anyway, Karma will get him back if he was doing wrong.
July 16th 2012 @ 2:35pm
mjezzer9 said | July 16th 2012 @ 2:35pm | Report comment
Cadel Evans did win last year’s Tour De France so he actually is a contender for the yellow jersey (although he has had a bit of bad luck this year- disappointing) and he had three punctures so he was quite affected. The whole peloton waited in good sportsmanship so why couldn’t Rolland wait? Good on Wiggins for helping his rival.
July 16th 2012 @ 4:24pm
Kit Harvey said | July 16th 2012 @ 4:24pm | Report comment
Unless there was a misunderstanding of some sort, I can’t see any reason why Rolland did what he did.
July 16th 2012 @ 11:47am
Des Cairns said | July 16th 2012 @ 11:47am | Report comment
What a bloody disgrace! Robert Kiserlovski probably is sitting in the hospital with a broken collarbone because some cretin thought it would be fun to throw tacks.
Looking ahead to tonights stage, do people think the 3rd and 4th category climbs will be enough to dislodge the sprinters and give the advantage to a break away?
July 16th 2012 @ 4:27pm
Kit Harvey said | July 16th 2012 @ 4:27pm | Report comment
Yes so the story has come through. Apparently Janez Brajkovic punctured and Kiserlovski started to move to the side of the road to swap wheels with his team leader. He had a collision with Levi Leipheimer and crashed. Pure accident.
The tacks indirectly caused it. Pretty terrible stuff.
July 16th 2012 @ 1:33pm
SamClench said | July 16th 2012 @ 1:33pm | Report comment
As spectator interventions go, this is pretty serious. A streaker at the cricket can offend a few sensibilities, but that’s about all. Throwing tacks in front of speeding bikes can cause pretty serious injury, as Kiserlovski discovered. Pity that the culprit will almost certainly get away with it.
Really good sportsmanship from Wiggins and the rest of the peloton though. A good story that, coming out of a bad situation.
July 16th 2012 @ 4:06pm
SilverStreakCycling said | July 16th 2012 @ 4:06pm | Report comment
I’m lost for words about the tacks incident – unbelievable chaos, no doubt exactly what the perpetrator had in mind… and could potentially have caused even more tragic consequences.
July 16th 2012 @ 5:45pm
Mark W said | July 16th 2012 @ 5:45pm | Report comment
I don’t think Rolland will be raising his head above the parapet tonight after his dog act last night. For those idiots saying he was right to attack – there were 30 -40 riders who had punctures not just Evans. Every single other member of the yellow jersey group was aware of the unravelling chaos – so Rolland shouldn’t play people as fools and feign innocence.
Another one who will be sheepish is Tejay Van Garderen who was unambiguously aware of Cadel’s puncture but rode on pretending not to hear!
July 16th 2012 @ 7:08pm
liquorbox_ said | July 16th 2012 @ 7:08pm | Report comment
Why should he stop, there is no rule set in stone. What about the poor guys lower down the standings that lost their place because the breakaway gained an extra 5 minute advantage because they did not have to slow down. It might be only a battle for 40th place, but it still happened, the breakaway would equally have had radio contact with the teams and been aware of what occured but they did not go to a neutral pace until it was fixed.
I hope Rolland ignored advice from his team and actually wanted to win, and I hope that on the last day of the tour he attacks and tries to get a break instead of just rolling along. I like his mindset of wanting to win, if he can ever learn to TT then he will be a very good rider.
July 16th 2012 @ 8:21pm
nickoldschool said | July 16th 2012 @ 8:21pm | Report comment
I dont think that Pierre Rolland knew about the tacks incident when he decided to attack. No one knew what was happening at this stage. Give him the benefit of the doubt. If Porte, Rogers or…Evans had attacked at the same time no one here would question their integrity so please do the same with a non-aussie rider. Rolland is the only one who knows anyway.
July 16th 2012 @ 8:50pm
Kit Harvey said | July 16th 2012 @ 8:50pm | Report comment
I would have questioned their integrity regardless of their position in the race or their nationality. Pierre Rolland is a star, the fact that he is French is irrelevant to people’s musings on the matter.
Your last statement is absolutely true. Benefit of the doubt.
July 17th 2012 @ 12:54am
Kazzie said | July 17th 2012 @ 12:54am | Report comment
There has been a long hidstory of the tour that when incidents like this happen that no-one takes advantage of it. Even Lance Armstrong during his wins stated that when his main rival crashed or had a mechanical he stopped and waited. Wiggins made it clear that he would rather this be sorted out on the bike rather than taking advantage of this type of situation. Shows sportsmanship to me. Pierre Roland may be a little naive – at the time he attacked the yellow jersey group had already decided to slow down and wait as evidenced by the reactions of the 2 sky riders on the front of the group who shook their hands in anger. It seemed to me he knew but that the excitement of the situation may have overwhelmed a sense of sportsmanship. Alberto Contador learnt the hard way in 2010 when he attacked Andy Schleck after a mechanical – the crowd booed him each time he was on stage for the yellow jersey presentation. No mmatter who it was that attacked the response from the group and other riders would have been the same.