Phew.
The eighth stage, particularly well launched with an attack from Pogacar, should not be diverted or stopped.
The Cochonou truck, one of the official sponsors of the Tour de France, which blocked the route after being trapped by the narrowness of the road in the climb of the Côte de Mont-Saxonnex, ended up being cleared around 2:35 p.m. while the runners were still about thirty kilometers away.
Followers were alerted at 2:13 p.m. by a tweet from the Israel Start-Up Nation team.
Alerted by their osteopath, stuck behind the truck, Chris Froome's training initially misled everyone by locating the incident in the last ascent of the Col de la Colombière.
It was in fact kilometer 99 of the 150.8 on the day's program.
There is a truck stuck on the final climb:
Our osteopath Joe reported a problem on the Col de la Colombière.
A truck got stuck and no one is able to pass. # TdF2021 pic.twitter.com/S3dhXUUXXa
- Israel Start-Up Nation / Israel Cycling Academy (@TeamIsraelSUN) July 3, 2021
Very quickly, the organizers let it be known that the situation would be cleared up thanks in particular to the intervention of gendarmes on the spot.
Indeed, a few minutes later, Yannis, a 15-year-old young man who dreams of becoming a sports journalist according to his bio on Twitter, published a message where he indicated that he was at the top of the Côte de Mon-Saxonnex (classified in 1st category ) and come to see the truck in question.
He accompanied his testimony with a video where the Cochonou truck passed to the applause of the public.
pic.twitter.com/CS1LqGNJlR
- Yanis Addict'O sports 🟢🟢 (@AddictOsports) July 3, 2021
It remains to be seen why this imposing truck ended up on such narrow roads and when the organizers had taken care to divert the publicity caravan, which passes before the race, to avoid this kind of problem.
