“Had to change the wheel three times”: Gall with big bad luck with defects on the tour

Ironically, before the difficult final climb up to Saint-Gervais in the Mont-Blanc massif, Felix Gall had to change his broken bike on the 15th Tour de France stage.

The East Tyrolean, who up until then had kept up with the group of overall leader Jonas Vingegaard (Den) and his pursuer Tadej Pogacar (Slo), fought bravely as a result – as 26th on the day. In the overall classification, however, he fell out of the top 10, which was his declared goal.

In eleventh place, the 25-year-old Tour debutant is eleven seconds behind Martin Guillaume (Fra) in tenth place. At the front, Vingegaard defended his ten-second lead over Pogacar ahead of the second rest day. Victory went to soloist Wout Poels (Ned). Gregor Mühlberger improved as day 30. to 27th overall. Carinthian Marco Haller attempted a breakaway, which was caught 62 kilometers from the finish.

“I had to change my wheel three times today. You can imagine how I feel,” said Gall, gritting his teeth.

Gogl involved in mass fall

The tour weekend was clouded by two incidents that affected the race: On Sunday, a spectator caused a mass crash because he was apparently standing too far on the road. With his arm, with which he is believed to be holding the smartphone, he touched the American Sepp Kuss, who tore 20 drivers down with him when he fell. Among them was Michael Gogl. Like the other professionals affected, Wolfsegger was able to continue the race. Anger at fans who endanger the field of drivers with careless actions is not new. “The street is the driver’s office. Don’t go to their office,” warned Eurosport expert Jens Voigt to be more disciplined.

On Saturday’s stage from Annemasse to Morzine, won by Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez, Pogacar had to stop an attack on Vingegaard because two motorcycles in front of him made it impossible to start faster. Riding a motorcycle, Bernard Papon, photographer for French newspaper L’Equipe, later apologized: “I will not defend the untenable. We shouldn’t be in this situation. I should have asked my driver to come faster and earlier distance.” Papon had only reacted when Pogacar started, but at that point the dense crowd of fans on the track made it impossible for the bike to dodge.

The tour organizers blocked both motorcycle crews until Tuesday and fined them 515 euros each. While Pogacar didn’t want to exaggerate the incident, team manager Joxean Matxin found clearer words: “Driving two meters away is unacceptable.”

It continues on Tuesday in Passy with the only time trial. The 22 km should accommodate Gall, who is actually not competitive in this discipline, because of the topography with two climbs. The last six kilometers lead steeply uphill.