The Tour de France was today thrown into chaos by a farmers’ strike that halted the race and left riders pouring water into their eyes from police pepper spray used to break up the protests.
Every rider was forced to wait as the strike staged by protesters on a narrow country road on stage 16 was broken up.
However, some of the spray was caught in the air. Several riders as well as a police officer was seen wiping his eyes as a result.
British duo Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome were among the riders who were also forced to protect their eyes after police sprayed the protesters in a bid to remove them from the road.
The French farmers had parked tractors by the side of the road and rolled hay bales into the road to stop the race that was approximately an hour and 30kilometers in.
The Tour de France was halted on Tuesday after 30km of stage 16 after a farmers’ protest that blocked the route of the race
Police tried to move protesters from the road after French farmers had parked tractors and rolled hay bales onto the course
The race between Carcassonne and Bagneres-de-Luchon in south-western France resumed after a 15 minute delay while the protest was dealt with.
One protester held up a sign reading ‘For the Piege region to live’ as they attempted to block the stage’s route.
Protests from farmers are a regular occurrence during the Tour de France. In 1974 protesters in Brittany blocked roads and hung pigs from lamp posts to show their opposition to the race.
But Tuesday’s events, combined with the response, have taken the usual outcry from locals to a whole new level.
Tuesday’s events continued an incident-filled edition of the Tour. In the past fortnight, Froome has been cuffed by one fan and spat at by another.
Froome has also had an unidentified substance thrown at him.
Thomas, also a member of Team Sky, has been regularly booed whenever he has been presented with the yellow jersey at the end of a stage.
On Monday, Sir Dave Brailsford, the Team Sky manager, suggested the hostile reaction to his team was a ‘French cultural thing’ after a 21-year-old female member of their staff was spat at by those watching the race.
He said: ‘It’s interesting. We raced in Italy and Chris’s case was open when we were at the Tour of Italy and the Italians were fantastic, to be fair to them. The Spanish, fantastic. It just seems to be a French thing.
‘It’s like a French cultural thing really, isn’t it? That’s it. I’m not sure that they would have liked their football players spat at in Russia [at the World Cup -ed].
‘I’m sure that there would be a word or two about that. But it’s okay to spit on us and our staff.’
More to follow
British duo Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome were among the riders who were also forced to protect their eyes after police sprayed the protesters in a bid to remove them from the road.
The French farmers had parked tractors by the side of the road and rolled hay bales into the road to stop the race that was approximately an hour and 30kilometers in.
Protests from farmers are a regular occurrence during the Tour de France. One protester held up a sign reading ‘For the Piege region to live’ as they attempted to block the stage’s route.
But Tuesday’s events have taken the usual outcry from locals to a whole new level.
Tuesday’s events continued an incident-filled edition of the Tour. In the past fortnight, Froome has been cuffed by one fan and spat at by another.
Froome has also had an unidentified substance thrown at him.
Thomas, also a member of Team Sky, has been regularly booed whenever he has been presented with the yellow jersey at the end of a stage.
On Monday, Sir Dave Brailsford, the Team Sky manager, suggested the hostile reaction to his team was a ‘French cultural thing’ after a 21-year-old female member of their staff was spat at by those watching the race.
He said: ‘It’s interesting. We raced in Italy and Chris’s case was open when we were at the Tour of Italy and the Italians were fantastic, to be fair to them. The Spanish, fantastic. It just seems to be a French thing.
‘It’s like a French cultural thing really, isn’t it? That’s it. I’m not sure that they would have liked their football players spat at in Russia [at the World Cup -ed].
‘I’m sure that there would be a word or two about that. But it’s okay to spit on us and our staff.’
More to follow
