Stage neutralized for 9 km after the police tear gas to disperse a demonstration of farmers – Impressive fall of Gilbert who retires at the end of the stage – No battle between the big names: Thomas always in yellow – Today the dreaded shortest stage (65 km) with arrival at 2125 meters of Saint-Lary.
The classification does not suffer any shock even after the first stage in the Pyrenees which confirms the talent of Julian Alaphilippe, who wins his second stage after the high alpine at Le Grand Bornand increasing his advantage over Warren Barguil in the classification of climbers. For Geraint Thomas always in yellow one stage less from a dream that could also materialize given that for Froome it won't be easy, unless his teammate collapses, to seize the moment for an attack that he doesn't know of betrayal. Yesterday there was practically no battle between the big names who all arrived together more than 8 minutes behind Alaphilippe.
Certainly, regardless of who of the two Britons, the Welsh or the white Kenyan, wins this Tour, the climate around the race-dominant Team Sky is heating up by the day with crowds along streets increasingly hostile towards Thomas and especially Froome. The conference by Dave Brailsford, team manager of the English team, certainly did not help to calm spirits on Monday's rest day, pointing the finger at the unsportsmanlikeness of the French that has no counterpart elsewhere, neither in the Giro nor in the Vuelta.
An attack and an outburst that also affects the organizers of the Tour, authors of an incredible own goal on the eve of the Tour when they announced their intention to exclude Froome from the Grande Boucle on suspicion of doping on the same day that the Briton was acquitted by the Anti-Doping Tribunal of the UCI for the case of salbutamol.
But for Aso and the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, apart from Sky's tense nerves, the waters are increasingly agitated: the problem tolerated for too long by the smoke bombs that conditioned the last stretch of the Alpe d' stage Huez, creating a dangerous situation of which Vincenzo NIbali was the victim, yesterday was joined by the unheard-of news of the tear gas fired by the police at farmers who had organized a protest demonstration, blocking the race. All crying with red eyes: this was followed by the neutralization for nine km of the stages to allow the runners and suiveurs to see each other again by washing their pupils several times. Embarrassing scenes never seen before.
The Portet d'Aspet, the Col du Menté and the Portillon for their history would not have deserved such a background, a story that tells of dramas that have cut short lives and careers. In 1971 Luis Ocaña was in the yellow jersey coming down the Col du Menté. He had conquered it two days earlier in Orcières Merlette beating Eddy Merck by 9 minutes. No one had ever humiliated the Cannibal so much. "L'empereur fusillé," headlined l'Equipe.
In the next stage towards Marseille Merckx unleashed hell looking for revenge. He went on the run with other daring men and led the dances at such a crazy speed that he reached the finish line an hour and a half ahead of the fastest time table. Ocaña lost more than 2 minutes but had a good 7 left at the foot of the Pyrenees. He was still the super favorite to win the Tour, the one who had beaten the unbeatable.
Fuente flees, it's terribly hot but suddenly the sky darkens up to hide the road. Merckx sprints and Ocana is close behind him at the top of the Col du Menté. Downhill it's no longer rain but a real water bomb that soon turns into hail. Merckx swerves hitting a low wall but remains standing. It's worse in Ocaña who crashes into it and bounces on the ground in the middle of the road invaded by mud. He is examined with broken bones. The Tour is over for him. The ordeal of a life tragically ended with a gunshot to the left temple on May 19 begins.
1994. The victory in the 1973 Tour was not enough to overcome the shock and disappointment of two years earlier. He had won a Tour but Merckx wasn't there, the rival he hated and who he had to beat to get rid of that obsession that had haunted him since the day of the Col du Menté.
A year after Ocaña's suicide, Fabio Casartelli, an Italian rider with the Mororola jersey, died in the Portet d'Aspet downhill in 1995. We still ran without the obligation to wear a helmet, a devastating impact against a concrete curbstone was fatal to the gold medal on the road at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The day after, at the finish line in Limoges, Lance Armstrong was Casartelli's partner, finish first, raising his arms and eyes to heaven to remember the unfortunate athlete from Como.
Yesterday, not far from the bend where Casartelli's life ended and a stele was erected in memory of the unfortunate Italian athlete, another tragedy came close when Philippe Gilbert, who was leading the race, missed a bend going straight and fired against a wall: the bike remained on the side of the road, the Belgian instead was catapulted in the impact beyond the precipice.
Endless moments of fear for the fate of the Belgian champion who disappeared into the cliff of rocks and stones. An impressive flight radiated throughout the world by the following TVs: for everyone it was a release from a nightmare to see Gilbert re-emerge after a few minutes with the help of the rescuers, apparently without major damage. After a hasty dressing, the Belgian even wants to boldly get back on the bike.
An ordeal for him but he manages to finish the stage arriving with over 31 minutes from Alaphilippe. How he made the Portillon climb with a broken patella in his left knee is known to him. Obviously, the Belgian will not start today for the second Pyrenean stage, the shortest of the Dura, at just 65 km, with an immediate start uphill towards Peyresourde and arrival at 2.215 meters in Saint-Lary Soulan, the highest point touched by the Tour. It is inevitable to hope that something will happen in the upper quarters of the standings after yesterday's stalemate.
