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The safety of the Tour de France riders was about to collapse after the sponsors of Vincenzo Nibali, who had collapsed after a collision with a spectator, confirmed that they were considering legal action against the promoters of the race, ASO. Chris Froome
Froome again suffered the greatest number of spectator abuse, 48 hours after the moody stage in Alpe d'Huez in which the Team Sky driver was Jostled and the winner of the 2014 Nibali Tour was shot by a wandering spectator and forced to abandon the race with fractured vertebrae.
Initially, the indication was that the Nibali team, Bahrain-Merida, had accepted the incident as being just bad luck; but team manager Brent Copeland has now confirmed that the lawsuit is possible and that he warns his riders to avoid Froome. "In the past, we said:" Guys, stay ahead to avoid accidents. "" Do not stay behind Froome, it's dangerous, "Copeland said.
The safety problems that have marked this Tour since the beginning of the race in Vendée two weeks ago have become a real headache for the organizers, Froome, whose presence on the race became intensely controversial after ASO sought to prevent him from competing, before allowing him to run, was the focal point of most hostilities.
On Saturday, there was more hostility with what appeared to be beer to the winner of the Tour four times and still booing and making fun of the scene's arrival. "I'm not surprised," said teammate and race leader, Geraint Thomas: "We had a few. It has always been water from what I have seen. But I would not know what it was [today]. "
Copeland added that" Froome faces the risk that something happens every day. Chris said that himself when we spoke recently. The other day at Alpe d'Huez, Vincenzo was behind Froome after his attack. Chris managed to avoid motorcycles and everything. Vincenzo fell. "
As for Nibali 's accident and his surrender, Copeland said his team had" suffered tremendous damage "and that the team' s lawyers were in the process. to explore a possible legal action, I do what they should do, "he said. "They have not done anything either on people who light flares.It's not easy to control over 600,000 fans like the other day but as they are so powerful and if organized well, some things have to be handled firmly. "
Tensions around Froome and Thomas seemed to diminish briefly The winding roads and woodlands of Ardeche and Lozère ended in a 14th stage unsurprisingly with a Decisive victory of Omar Fraile of Spain, first victory of his career in Tour.
Fraile was at home, watered and celebrating her favorites started the steep final climb to Mende airfield. Slovenian rider Primoz Roglic tried a speculative hint to light the lights, Tom Dumoulin trying his hand 2 km from the finish, but Thomas and Froome were able to react by closing on the landing strip overlooking Mende [19659010]. Even on the 3 km climb to the airfield, there was some damage inflicted. Adam Yates, who had hopes of a resumption in the final stages of the race, was among the first to crack while Romain Bardet and Mikel Landa were unable to follow Thomas, Dumoulin and Froome, now firmly established like the three favorites for the final. Victory in Paris
"It was a tough little final," said Froome, "only a 3km climb, but explosive, difficult.I think we saw the damage that he did, even a short climb like this
"There were holes everywhere and a few seconds gained here and there with a few guys. Overall, we are quite happy with myself and Geraint, at the front. Dumoulin seems to be our biggest threat. "
Again it was Thomas who appeared the most comfortable of the three favorites, with Froome being briefly abandoned." The goal was still to participate in this Tour and I think I was there. I have timed well, "said Froome." I had a good recovery block after the Giro and the construction, in the Tour, was really the right thing to do for me. "
Thomas has also quoted Dumoulin, the Giro champion in 2017, as the biggest threat hold the main role of race. "It's impressive," he said about the Dutchman's performance. do his job well. "
" He's the world time trial champion and he knows exactly how to fly, whether it's a 3km climb or Alpe d'Huez. You do not know if he's really suffering or if he's just pacing. Fair play for him. It takes bullets to do it, especially when you do not have teammates, but we are just happy to be in the situation where we are. "
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