Geraint Thomas to avoid the crowds during the crucial phase of the Tour de France | sport

Geraint Thomas will avoid approaching crowds lined up at the key stage of the Tour de France on Friday after a spectator deliberately took it and nearly crashed it. on the stage 17.

The Welsh, who kept his yellow jersey Team Sky's pilot, Wout Poels, showed him a picture of an "idiot" who almost drove him to the end of the climb to Col de Portet and a lead of 1min 59sec after the 18th stage of Thursday. Wednesday,

"Obviously, this is not good and I will not be so close to the barriers," said Thomas, who admitted that he had not appreciated the severity of the incident before much later. "I could have fallen easily and wasting a bit of time, I was passing quite fast in front of him but it certainly kept me away from my line." It was a bit of a shock but luckily I felt

"But obviously, it was not good. We come here to run our bikes and that's all we want to do. The whole platoon just wants to do it safely. It's a bit too much. "

Thomas said that he did not believe that his incident was specifically related to Team Sky, who faced an almost daily regime of anger and bad feelings from some fans during the Tour." Apparently, he did the same with Nairo Quintana.I think it was too much drinking, a little silly. "

Dave Brailsford, director of Team Sky, called this incident" unacceptable "and admitted that it was the last of many questions his team had faced. "I can not imagine that an impartial person, regardless of his nationality, can look at it and think that it has a place in sport, but for three weeks now we have been saying it."

Since the beginning of the Tour in Brittany, the four-time winner Chris Froome has been handcuffed by a fan, spit by another, and he has been thrown an unidentified substance. , while Tuesday's 16th stage riders were accidentally hit with pepper spray after Protestant farmers stopped the race.

Froome was still in the wars on Wednesday when he was overthrown by a policeman. bus after scene – with pictures showing him swearing in front of the officer, who had taken him for a spectator.

Brailsford emphasized that Froome's reaction was understandable given the circumstances. "I think if someone unexpectedly pulls you off the bike, the shock of that, if you think you're being attacked, any unbiased person would agree that your first reaction to that is going to be emotional." , he said. ] Froome minimized the incident – which led to his bike being ransacked and his bodyguard on his way down – as a misunderstanding. "I was the first to descend the descent and one of the gendarmes grabbed me by the arm," said Froome, who was wearing a gray rain jacket on his running suit. "Obviously, he thought I was a spectator on the course, I was going at a speed so I went out, but that was just a misunderstanding."

The Lotto Manager Richard Plugge told the Guardian that the incident had been caused by organizers changing plans at the last minute to send runners. "The big cycling stars who come down in such an environment are not a good idea, after such a mountain stage," he said. "At least the top 10 should be helicopter-borne or some other way, they gave it all, they pushed 100% but they had to run in the cold, through the cars going up and the other drivers."

Plugge, also vice president of the AIGCP, the association of professional teams, felt sympathy for the gendarmes who were to monitor such an unstable tour. "The world has changed, and there have been some really tough times in France, so we understand the tense situation among the police," he added.

Danish runner Jakob Fuglsang is amazed by the speed of the Team Sky train over the three weeks – and the brilliant performance of Thomas. "I'm not surprised that others are faster than me, but I'm surprised how much faster they are," he said. "I just spoke with Mikel Landa after the step and he can not believe it either.He says that he made less watts last year."

Fuglsang, who made it clear that he was not accusing anyone of wrongdoing, added: "It is surprising that Thomas has done such a good tour, he was already good in the Dauphiné and here he has perfectly preserved its shape until now – it was a surprise and for a guy who never finished in the top 10 in a Grand Tour before, hanging on to the yellow jersey for so long and defending Eh Well, and apparently so loud, that it's a bit of a surprise, but he's a good guy and I hope he'll hold it up in Paris. "