Tadej Pogacar Attack BLOCKED by Motorbike on Joux Plane | Tour de France 2023 Stage 14 

Wout van Aert coming back from a complete standstill has to be my favourite moment of the Tour so far. What a rider

Whats not mentioned here is the bit where Rodriguez was close to being run over for a straight 10 seconds while trying to get past 2 motos and the hoards of supporters in order to actually get back to Jonas and Pog. He kept the belief, rode to his pace and was rewarded. What a ride from the young man.

What WvA did was hilarious, when he was passing the trains like nothing and the look from Pogi "what are you doing here bro"

As ex-cyclist i was , long time ago, as caregiver/mechanic 3 x in the Tour, 2x in the Giro and 1x in the Vuelta. A car is about 1,8 mtr wide and imagine what happened when you are in a car with all these idiots on the middle of the road. It was frightening sometimes. I feel sorry for the people on the motorbikes because sometimes they have totally no options to avoid this kind of problems unless the organization place proper fences. My respect to Tadej for not complaining about this incident. This makes him a much better and more respected cyclist. 👍👍👍👍

Some of the fans were a joke today. There was some drunk looking guy running along side them at one point way too close - luckily another fan yanked him out of the road.

One of the best tours and tour stages I've watched in years. This year's race is really entertaining. I like the contrast in styles of the two main protagonists and teams. They're matched close enough that it comes down to random events and not paying attention for a second. It could go either way.

What an insane end for Rodriguez! That bike blocking Pog from making the to the top attack set him up so well to launch when Jonas and Pog were just looking at each other after the sprint

Jonas and Pog keeping us guessing to who’s going to take it. Love that they’re keeping things so close, can’t wait to see what they do to pull ahead of the other.

Everyone calling AG2R crazy for pacing for Gall yesterday and yet here he is now in 9th.

This TdF is even better than last year. Epic!

This Lanterne Rouge signature style analysis and commentary is the best thing that's happened in pro cycling broadcasting in the 20 years I've been following it. Every much deserved present and future success to you mate.

"It's like Sky train but aggressive." Savage.

Rodriguez seems to be a cool guy. Great win for him!

I've commented before about the auto subtitles, but "Johannes finger God" is the best one I've ever seen

What a battle between Pogi and Jonas. Such a good year for the Tour.

Both Jonas and Tadej have domestiques in the GC top 10. Insane.

Great summary and video 👍.....the motorbikes blocking Pogacar was a real shame 😕...looks like they were a problem elsewhere as well ..also the big crash was a bummer ... The close contest between Pog and Jonas is awesome to see 👍

Van Aert is a motorbike but I think the gap on the second last descent happened because of the motorbike and the red car really close in front of him. If there is a gap you can't close it anymore then.

These guys are amazing! Sharing water sprays shows the true spirit of competition....

Great coverage from Lanterne Rouge of an epic stage in what is becoming an epic TDF! The hordes of people on both sides of the road seems much worse this year. Drunk guys with their pants down, fancy dress costumes, flags, flares, signs, rubbish, vehicles. It's unsustainable as was shown in Stage 14. It is a miracle that riders haven't been brought down as has happened in the past. If we really want to see riders giving their all and chasing down seconds then there has to be some form of crowd control, not a free for all.

I loved that comeback from Van Aert, what a boss. His honor was tarnished until he kicked Majka out himself so that's what he did.

You would have thought they would consider putting railings up for the last km of the mountain like they do with summit finishes, especially with time bonuses on the line as it was always likely to be a sprint for the GC. Adds to the drama though. I get more annoyed with these people who set off flares as the riders go past. That is not nice.

Wout getting dropped then coming back just to tell Majka to fuck off was the weirdest shit ive ever seen

If you’re gonna put a time bonus at the top of a climb with a race this close, there need to be barriers 500m from the top. Fans are gonna be wild. That being said, not sure why the motos were THAT close.

This has been a supremely entertaining Tour!

i'll never understand the fans that want to get 6 inches away from the riders while they are trying to climb. worst kind of sports fan in all of sports

So sad what happened to Chaves :( Hope he will recover soon.

Shame you left out the clip of the stackup of 3 motos behind Pogi and Jonas who blocked Carlos Rodriguez from bridging, then when he tried to pass (on their left), one of them veered into him and barged him into the fans. He reached out with his right hand and tried to shove the cameraman to protect himself. Absolute shitshow from the motos. The lead moto that blocked Pogi was just clueless and slow to react. But the rear moto that blocked Rodriguez was WORSE -- that jackass intentionally fought to not give him his shot even though he KNEW he was impeding Rodriguez. The guy in the moto who blocked Rodriguez should be ejected from the rest of the race. There's a difference between an accident or mistake, and something completely intentional. He basically just said "I don't care, I want the shot, I know it's going to impeded Rodriguez, I don't care."

Maijka: Goodbye Wout Wout: Goodbye Rafa

WVA coming back was in response to Kelderman dropping out. Wilco replaced WVA in leading the TJV train but he then was not able to pace hard and this allowed Majka to take over the lead of the peloton and suddenly UAE were in control of the climb. IMO Wout saw/heard about this and immediately showed that he has the mind of a champion and so despite being spent he came back up & rode to the front then displaced Majka and reasserted TJV control. To me the lesson here is what others have said all along which was that Wilco does not have what is needed to be a climbing super-domestique for Jonas and TJV made a mistake in not taking Roglic.

I'm sure its just me, but Vingegaard always looks like his bike is too big. Like a kid riding their older brother's bike. I imagine its some sort of optical illusion created by his riding style, but I can't un-see it.

@1:58 "It's [Jumbo Visma] like Sky Train, but aggressive." lolol

There were way too many fans on that last mountain. Looked to me like the fans impeded the motor bikes.

Can we please talk about Felix Gall? What a ride for the youngster

However fast the domestiques can set the pace, Vingegaard and Pogacar will never be in trouble with that: that's why Vingegaard should start his attack as soon as possible when the climb begins, otherwise Pogacar will always take advantage from is superiority in a 2-3 km sector...

Not sure if it’s the motorbike guy or the hordes of drunk marauders on the sideline that pissed me off more in that moment. Incredible performance from both, as Tadej said, don’t think this will end up being decisive for GC in the end.

i knew that motorbike thing would happen sooner or later. they've been sitting way too goddamn close to the front of the riders the whole tour; with how close the fans are they had no chance to react in time if one of the riders sprung an attack like pog did.

Great performance by Seb Kuss again. Makes you wonder if he wants to shop around for a new team. How many times can you just play a supporting role for Roglic and Vingo?

If disc brakes didnt block MAX performance then these motos sure did lol.

Love your commenting on the Tour. Great job!

What if they just stopped with the bonus seconds again, then people would be forced to drop their rivals to actually gain time on them. The bonus seconds are suppose to incite interesting racing, but more times than not, the bonus seconds out on the road is taken by people they don't matter to and the bonus seconds on the finish line, usually ends with a guy with a good punch waiting for the last km before trying to do anything.

“Pogacar attacks and gets blocked by a motorbike, in this controversial moment of the stage” proceeds to put ads

Basically exactly what Jonas said: longer climbs, Pog cant beat him with the short acceleration

Not the first time this has happened. Shameful but just like the crowd it is part of the sport. It's speculative to assume Jonas would not have responded to Tadej's attack.

I’m so impressed by Rodriguez and Adam Yates. Both were only a few seconds behind the big two on the climb, unreal climbing, they didn’t give up when they were dropped but managed to claw it baxk

If the race directors are not taking action quickly there is gonna be mayhem....unruly crowd, motocycles far too close, partly because they have to brake in front of unruly crowd, and then happens what we witnessed today. So far at least 4 contenders for the top ten are out.

Yes.The momentum of Pogi was stopped by the 2 motorcycle guides and unruly crowds.

Pogacar has to have looked up the road before he launched a d surely saw how crowded the roadway was. It was poor timing g on his part as much as it was the moto blocking him.

What I really like about the modern TdF is that there are no supermen hopped up on EPO. When someone has a super day, they pay for it the day after. As opposed to the days of Ullrich and Armstrong where they could crush the field day after day after day.

The camera teams should use bicycles as well, so this will never ever happen again. Quick fix.

great recap of such a thrilling stage!

Kuss needs to be celebrated, he seems like the mvp domestique

Once Carlos Rodriguez got to the front, his full gas descent was just Epic .Congrats to him on the stage win.Back to the climb with Vingegaard and Pogacar on the front, the moto did in fact cut off the attack. Fanatics in the road were also a factor. Just as fans cannot breach the racing surfaces of Formula One or American Nascar, something has to be done with the fans here,if nothing more than a safety consideration for the riders .The moto either runs over the fanatics or stop and block Pogacar's attack. From a physical standpoint, it doesn't appear much can be done to get people out of the road, especially in the remote mountains, but if they understood the danger this poses to the GC riders, the best in the world, Cheer them, but just get out of the way.

Lanterne Rouge you’re the people’s champ! Your takes on the TDF make it exciting. And WvA playing possum is awesome.

The self control of so many of the spectators is disgusting. There should be significant fines if you step foot on the road anywhere near the cyclists.

How lucky are we to see and devour this stage. What a route, what a race, what talent. Such a cracker.

Vingegaard was helped by the motorbikes blocking Pogi but you could tell he was disappointed by what happened- you could see him shake his head in the overhead shots.

best offence is defence..good job vingo...just stay on pogas wheel and dont let poga make big gap.. just make sure to close poga in ITT, because ITT make GC change.. gudlak💪🚴💪

Great commentary per usual. Seeing Kuss in the top 10 as a pure domestique is heartwarming and saddening at the same time. 2 years ago he's let off the leash and takes a mountain victory in the tour. Last year, is by all accounts the top high mountain domestique for the GC winner. This year he and Yates have been on another level. I've heard he has little ambition in a leading role. His current contract expires after next season at which point he'll be 29 or 30. Seems like if he were to ever go for it himself he'd have to switch teams. I could see him competing for the podium in the Tour De France and potentially making a legitimate run in the Giro, or Vuelta. Anyone else want to see him take a shot as a GC guy?

the best analysis -- keep it up!

I see everybody saying the motorbikes were at fault but where was the fence in the last kilometer or so of the climb to keep the fans from exploding on them? I think if there was a fence then there would have never been a problem with the motorbikes. Bad preparation from TdF to be honest.

Not only this incident, the motorbike definitely towed the main group on the penultimate descent. They put a minute into Pidcock quickly (possibly faster descender in the peloton), then on the last climb they obstructed Rodriguez and Yates

The moto incident was a sidenote in the bigger picture today. Why did both Pogacar and Vingegaard let Rodriguez come back? Why did Pogacar attack so early and didn’t follow the same tactics as the last days? Why did Pogacar not follow Rodriguez wheel on the downhill (apparently he had deep dish wheels, but still), why did he think a cooked Yates could help? Such an odd finale to the stage

Nice report, as usual. Shouldn’t permit 2 motos in frontMore barriers needed.

Fantastic analysis and commentary!

Pogacar did seem really sad about the motorbike incident when giving interview to the Slovenian press, as it stopped his attack(not a sprint) over the top and into the descent, probably also denying him a stage win. On the incident itself, it looked like the motorbikes were lined one after the other at the time Pog attacked, but then went parallel at the completely wrong moment, blocking the road. A pity, definitely not a disaster though.

so let say the motor bikes cost pogacar the time bonus and instead vingegaard got the bonus, that's what, an 8 second difference? not to mention had pogacar stayed away and won the stage. in a tour this close that's a significant amount! i really hope those camera bikes didn't change the tour outcome!

I just hope in the end the motos dont decide the gc only 6 sec but a sprint cost Energy…

The motorbikes interfering sucked but what exactly did Pogacar think was going to happen? The road was blocked, it shouldn't have been but it was and he'd have to be not looking ahead not to see it. Really bad crowd management by the Tour organizers (all too common) but given the situation I just don't see what he thought he was doing. Would love to be told I'm wrong and there is a normal procedure that wasn't followed here but it seemed inevitable to me.

I wonder if Jumbo could use Kuss the same way they used to use Roglic as a potential second GC threat. He's so ridiculously strong.

Pog may have dropped Vingo on the descent, had the attack blocked by the motos succeded. If it is a close outcome at the end, people will look at this incident again. Other than that, there should have been barriers near the top of that climbs. The spectators crowding the road basically neutralized that part, and in all fairness, the motos didn't have anywhere to go.

Let’s be honest riders benefit from drafting the motorbikes when they launch breakaways.

Fans want close-up video coverage of the race. Motorbikes are always too close but on this occasion, what were they supposed to do, speed up and risk an accident with fans all over the road? I blame the organisation: where were the roadside barriers at this crunch point in the stage?

I don't think the motorbikes were necessarily the problem. There were fans running all over the roads and they (the fans) probably only saw the motorbikes and the bikes had to slow down to not run someone over. But I don't know for sure though, have only seen it for one or two angles.

Glad you picked up on the bonus seconds tactics as I thought that watching it live. Surely Yates and Pog could have manufactured a 2,3 and edge out Jonas of the bonus seconds completely?

Do we realy need a Ventoux Run part 2 to finally do something about the 'fans' standing in the way at crucial moments which makes no one can pass? The motorbikes are always blamed, but are not always the culprits (only the last motor that blocked Rodriguez is guilty). The problem is not placing barriers in crucial places (last 500m on a final climb with bonus seconds) and not sending motorbikes away if the time difference is too small. Normally there are no motorbikes or cars allowed when the gap is less than 1 minute, now they were just there at 5 seconds time difference without moving aside. Very dangerous. On Belgian TV (Vive Le Vélo) it was said that Rodriguez could never have won without motorbikes blocking Pogacar, but Rodriguez was actually the biggest victim of this chaos. Luckily he was eventually able to pull through and pull away, but he could be more than 1" ahead of Hindley.

It was clear obstruction/race influencing from the motos but these things happen a lot. Probably even more so further down the race, outside the tv coverage. I tought it maybe was a good idea to cancell the bonus seconds because of this, but that would have Jumbo up in arms. Probably the best respons is the way Tadej took it, just brush it off as a minor incident. Lets hope these couple seconds will not turn out to be deciding. They probably won't.

I feared to be disappointed by this year's tour, because the last was already so good. Its an incredible tour. I don't really care who is winning but it's so close. Please let stage 15 be equally awesome.

Adam Yates is so consistent. He’s having an excellent Tdf

wow, is this a contender for best day? excellent and fun to watch update

Great analysis, thank you

Mike Tyson said it best when he said "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Jumbo had a plan and Pogacar had the punch.

Another incredible stage.

If you look ahead and see 2 motos and a bunch of fans blocking your path, it's probably not a good time to launch an attack.

I’m not excusing the Pogacar moto, but maybe, like rally 40 years ago, there needs to be a spectator reckoning. Navigating crowded mountain roads while also paying attention to your boss in an earpiece and the racers as well, it can’t be an easy job. They can’t just accelerate when there is an attack and risk running over civilians. I don’t think Pogacar has any blame in this, but he should’ve been aware of the possibility.

I thought that Pog stopped his attack when he saw that he only put about 8 seconds into Jonas. Since it wasn't a mountain top finish, that time might not have been enough.

They should fine anyone that does this for $50,000USD, what an incompetent motorcyclist

this tour is an absolute electric factory

Is your mic okay?

Wout and Sepp are just absolute machines. Jumbo-Visma might just be the strongest Team the Tour has ever seen so far.

All time great tour right now a close hard to predict battle for first and now for third imagine if those 3 seconds decide the tour

The motos cost Pogacar 8secs. No way Rodriguez closes the gab otherwise. So also 2 more bonus sec difference on the finish

The best of this tour, so far. Let's see tomorrow.

Let's hope those seconds won't make the difference in gc

Wout bridging back and dropping Majka tops it for me this TdF so far. 🤩 Ahh well, nobody cried out against the MCs beeing "too close" the last two uphill attacks where Poga got MC-paced for several KMs, and yes it does make a significant difference ref. "Aerodynamic analysis of uphill drafting in cycling"(2021, Druen and Blocken) 😂

Rosriguez interview realy impressed me

That moto block will go down in infamy alongside the Shcleck chain drop

That motor rider just earned free groceries for life.

That was most excellent, thanx !

Love how Jumbo keeps pacing Pogačar through these mountain stages :D