Tour de France briefly was stopped after police accidentally sprayed cyclists during farmers' protest

Tour de France briefly was stopped after police accidentally sprayed cyclists during farmers' protest Daniel Felipe Martinez of Colombia...

Tour de France briefly was stopped after police accidentally sprayed cyclists during farmers' protest


Daniel Felipe Martinez of Colombia uses eye wash after being sprayed. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters) July 24 at 8:14 AM Email the author

The Tour de France came to a screeching halt Tuesday when a spray used by police in an attempt to break up a farmers’ protest accidentally hit them and stung their eyes.

Several riders, including leaders Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome, needed medical attention after cops went to the spray, variously reported as pepper spray and tear gas, when farmers began driving tractors and throwing hale bales onto the peloton’s path about 18 miles into the roughly 135-mile 16th stage from Carcassonne to Bagneres-de-Luchon. ITV4 reported that o ne policeman did not account for the wind and sprayed himself as well as the riders.

Riders wait for the race to resume. (Marco Bertorello / AFP / Getty Images)

TV images showed riders pulling over as the race was delayed for about 15 minutes amid confusion about what was happening. According to the BBC, the manager of the Mitchelton-Scott team said the substance was pepper spray and once the riders were treated and it became clear that they were not being attacked, the race resumed.

Gendarmes detain a protester. (Jeff Pachoud AFP / Getty Images

Farmers often use the visibility offered by the race to protest and one farmer carried a sign that said “For the Piege region to live” on Tue sday. Over the past two weeks of the race, Team Sky’s Froome has been spat at by a fan and jostled and Thomas has been booed whenever he pulled on a yellow jersey after a stage. Thomas and Froome are first and second in the yellow-jersey standings and both flushed their eyes after being stung Tuesday. Sir Dave Brailsford, the Team Sky manager, noted that a 21-year-old female member of their staff was spat at by fans along the way.

“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,” Team Sky manager Sir Dave Brailsford told the Daily Mail. “It’s like a French cultural thing really, isn’t it? That’s it. I’m not sure that they would have liked their [World Cup] football players spat at in Russia.”

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