After the braking maneuver against professional cyclist Tadej Pogacar, the organizers of the Tour de France punished two motorcycle crews.
A TV and a photographer’s motorcycle will be closed for the 15th stage on Sunday. In addition, both crews have to pay a fine of 500 Swiss francs (around 515 euros). Tour organizer ASO announced this on Saturday evening.
Both bikes had blocked an attack by second overall Pogacar on leader Jonas Vingegaard about 500 meters before crossing the Col de Joux Plane. Pogacar had started, but had to brake after 20 meters because the road was blocked by the motorcycles driving side by side.
Pogacar downplayed the incident at the finish but admitted he wasted power unnecessarily. At the top of the pass, the 24-year-old lacked the strength to sprint for bonus seconds against Vingegaard (26). He gained three seconds more than Pogacar and extended his lead to ten seconds by the end of the stage.