It is not at all unusual for a young French rider to find himself surrounded by cameras and microphones following a stage of the Tour de France, but Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) would perhaps have gladly done without the attention in Gap on Monday afternoon.
Barguil accidentally bumped Geraint Thomas (Sky) off the road on the notorious descent of the Col de Manse in the finale of stage 16, causing the Welshman to crash headlong into a telegraph pole at the roadside and fall into the ditch.
Thomas was able to remount and crossed the finish line 38 seconds down on the yellow jersey group to remain in sixth place overall, 5:32 down on his teammate Chris Froome. As he warmed down on the turbo trainer after the stage, Barguil apologised for his part in the incident and looked to explain how he had come to slam into Thomas with his shoulder.
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“I’m sorry, I’m really very sorry. I didn’t mean to bump Thomas,” Barguil said. “I wanted to brake but Tejay van Garderen had touched my shoulder before the corner. My hand slipped and I lost hold of my rear brake. You brake at the last minute on those corners and the second or two I lost when my hand slipped were fatal and caused me to ride into Thomas.”
The select yellow jersey group played out a score draw on the way up the Col de Manse, with only Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) managing to snap the elastic and break clear. Barguil, who moved back into the top 10 overall thanks to his showing on the stage, suggested that he had approached the descent with a degree of tension.
“The Tour is more nervous than other races. The competition is so close on the climbs that sometimes the gaps are made on the descents,” Barguil said. “As a result, everybody wants to be in the first positions.”
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