Rivals waited for the defending champion and pre-race favorite after a crash. But fans lashed out at the rider who inadvertently caused him to go down.
In a perhaps unusual display of sportsmanship, riders in the Tour de France slowed down to wait for defending champion and pre-race favorite Tadej Pogačar, who crashed a few miles from the finish line Wednesday on stage 11.
At the same time, the man who caused the crash faced an inbox full of threats and hate mail that left him “terrified.”
Norwegian rider Tobias Halland Johannessen unintentionally took out Pogačar on the outskirts of Toulouse as they rode among a group of contenders for the overall title, including the Slovenian’s chief rival Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark. Pogačar skidded across the road but was on his feet quickly. A Tour mechanic on a motorcycle helped reattach his bike chain and he pedaled furiously to catch up.
The group could have ridden hard to put some time on Pogačar, who was second overall at the time, but slowed enough for him to get back.
“We waited for him, like we should do, in my opinion,” Vingegaard said, per Velo. “When it’s like that, it’s pure bad luck. It was not because he overcooked a corner or anything, he just overlapped wheels so that’s the right way to do it.”
A show of respect
Vingegaard’s teammate, American Matteo Jorgensen, said a “collective decision” was made to allow Pogačar to catch up.
“It’s the sporting decision,” Jorgenson said following the race. “After a lot of the comments the other day, I guess accusations of unsportsmanlike stuff that I’ve never seen before from him, I think at least now he can be confident we’re trying to beat him in a sporting way.”
Jorgenson was referring to an incident in the feed zone on stage 7 where Pogačar appeared to push him out of the way.
Though it doesn’t always hold sway, Tour de France tradition dictates that in the event of an unfortunate crash or mechanical problem, the peloton sits up and waits for the rider in the yellow jersey. But Pogačar wasn’t in yellow on Wednesday. Irish rider Ben Healy snagged the overall lead earlier in the week and had the jersey on his shoulders.
While Healy isn’t a threat to win the Tour, he could have extended his lead over Pogačar heading into Thursday’s stage, possibly keeping him in yellow for another day.
“It was respect among the riders,” Healy said, per Cycling Weekly. “Whenever someone makes a silly mistake in the final when there’s not going to be a crazy difference from that point forward, I think anyone would appreciate the same.”
Backlash scares Norwegian rider
While fellow riders showed Pogačar some respect, race fans weren’t as kind to Johannessen, who is riding in his second Tour de France.
Johannessen said he’s “terrified” of the threats he has received since inadvertently cutting across Pogačar’s front wheel, causing him to go down. He apologized on social media.
“I am terribly sorry for what happened to @TamauPogi. I was trying to follow a move and I can see that I was too close. I thought everyone would move to the right, but I made a mistake and would like to say sorry again. I hope he is as good as he can be after a crash like that," he posted on X.
“I would, of course, like to do it again and do it differently, but I can’t. That feels (expletive), but I would not wish anyone the amount of threats I get in my inbox. I am terribly sorry, but also terrified of the hate from all the people. This feels very scary.”
Cyclingnews reported seeing Johannessen apologize to Pogačar’s team director Joxean ‘Matxín’ Fernández after the stage. “Just now arriving to the car and the bus was Tobias to say sorry and that it was involuntary, and I spoke directly to Tadej, and for him it’s not a problem,” he told the publication.
Before starting Thursday’s stage 12, Pogačar told reporters, “I’m OK. Nothing too bad. Just my whole left arm is open completely with more of just like burned off skin and I hit my hip a little bit and shoulder.
“Today is another day. It’s not the first time that I crashed and continued the race. We’ll see how the legs are.”
Apparently, Pogačar’s legs are just fine. He blew away the field on Thursday’s stage 12 in the Pyrenees and now has a 3-minute, 31-second lead on Vingegaard.
Category: General Sports
