Geraint Thomas was dealt a savage blow on his crusade for another Yellow Jersey when his road captain Luke Rowe was kicked off the Tour de France .
Rowe and German powerhouse Tony Martin were both disqualified after race commissaires reviewed video footage of their clash towards the end of Wednesday’s stage 17.
Team Ineos principal Sir Dave Brailsford branded the decision “incredibly harsh” – but defending champion Thomas must now try to retain the crown without his compatriot, minder and trusted wingman.
The benign, 124-mile trundle from Pont du Gard to Gap erupted momentarily, around 14 miles from the finish, when Martin – a four-times world champion in the time trial – appeared to barge Rowe and almost ran him off the road.
Replays showed the Welsh domestique retaliating by grabbing the German, known as ‘Der Panzerwagen’, although the pair later rolled into Gap chatting amicably enough.
Both Rowe and Thomas, who must now tackle three brutal Alpine stages to decide the general classification back-to-back with a depleted team, had played down the flashpoint afterwards. But their charitable version of events cut little ice with the commissaires, who took a dim view of tempers boiling over in the blistering 41-degree heat.
Brailsford, who was summoned to review the footage with sporting director Nico Portal, complained: “They have decided to expel Luke and Tony from the race, which is incredibly harsh, if I’m honest.
“I’ve watched the clip and there’s no doubt Tony cut up Luke a little bit, but it’s nothing worse than you see on most days of the race. A pretty harsh decision. I think a yellow card would have been merited, but a red card for both riders feels a bit severe.”
(Image: Twitter)
(Image: Twitter)
Visibly shocked, Rowe admitted: “We were both trying to do a job, maybe we overstepped the mark slightly. But it feels harsh to be thrown off the race – neither of us deserves that. To come here with this team, a bunch of good mates, I feel like I’ve let them down and let myself down. It’s pretty hard to take.”
Earlier, he had shrugged off the bust-up as a routine fraying of tempers, saying: “It does get a bit tense at times, but you’ve got to have broad shoulders and it’s no problem. We rode the last 10km talkig to each other.”
Thomas insisted there was “nothing crazy” about the incident, adding: “It’s the same all the time – Luke, Tony, other guys from other teams, they all do the same job – they have got to get their leaders into a good position, so they always end up jostling for position.
(Image: AFP/Getty)
“That’s always happening… nothing crazy, really.”
The hanging judges’ decision weakens both Thomas and Martin’s team-mate, Dutch dark horse Steven Kruijswijk, only 12 seconds back, in the bunfight for the Yellow Jersey.
Thomas must now turn his attention to trimming long-time leader Julian Alaphilippe’s advantage on a monster stage 18, including the feared Col du Galibier’s daunting 14-mile climb, rising to 8,667ft, in rarefied Alpine highlands.
Seldom, if ever, in the last 30 years of Le Tour has the battle for the Yellow Jersey been so intense, with just 39 seconds separating Thomas at No.2 on the leaderboard from Emanuel Buchmann in sixth.
(Image: AFP/Getty)
Alaphilippe has defied all conventional wisdom by hanging on to the leader’s jersey for a fortnight, but fellow Frenchman Thibaut Pinot is the bookies’ favourite to end the host nation’s 34-year wait for a home win in their signature bike race.
Thomas noted Alaphilippe’s struggle on the Prat d’Albis in the Pyrenees last weekend and said: “You’d think he would be starting to get tired by now and that teams will to make it hard all day (for him). We’ve got three big days to come now, and a lot can happen.”
Italy’s Matteo Trentin won stage 17, with the GC big guns rolling home 20 minutes behind him, but the real fireworks came 20 minutes behind him.
