Chris Froome Knocked off his bike by Policemen who mistook him for a Fan

Chris Froome almost crashed out of the Tour de France, after being knocked off his bike by a policeman on Stage 17

Team Sky leader Froome, a four-time champion, who cracked on the final climb, finished the stage in eighth place at 1min 35 sec behind Colombian winner Nairo Quintana and 48 secs behind teammate and overall leader Geraint Thomas.

The Kenyan-born Briton had put on his rainjacket and was cycling back to the Team Sky bus when a policeman on the side of the road mistakenly took him for one of the thousands of cycling fans who traditionally ride up the mountain stages to catch a glimpse of their idols. The policemane tried to get Froome to stop and in the confusion the six-time Grand Tour champion crashed.

Froome was very angry: “Fuck you!” @BorjaCuadrado @ProCyclingStats @DiarioMarca_ @diarioas @CiclismoInter @teledeporte @esport3 @pedrodelgadoweb @Eurosport @antoalix pic.twitter.com/2JEFpjCneM

— Albert Secall (@albertsecall) July 25, 2018

He avoided injury and is set to start stage 18 on Thursday. Froome lost over 

Gendarme trekt Froome van fiets in afdaling na de finish. Dacht dat het een toerist was die naar beneden ging... pic.twitter.com/3oEByf9fhR

— Raymond Kerckhoffs (@raykerckhoffs) July 25, 2018

"It was a misunderstanding. Chris is fine," said a Team Sky spokesman.

 

Froome muy enfadado después de que un gendarme lo tire al suelo en el descenso tras la finalización de la etapa. El policía confunde al británico con un amateur. Enfado y de los gordos. #sky #teamsky #froome #chrisfroome #letour #letourdefrance #etapa17 #stage17 #gendarmerie #colduportet #crash #caida #quintana #nairo @cyclingtips @team_sky_procycling @chrisfroome @ciclismoafondo_oficial @letourdefrance @eurosport @sprintcycling

A post shared by Marc Visa Romero (@marcvisa14) on

Jul 25, 2018 at 10:08am PDT

Team boss Dave Brailsford said they will now plan to make sure Froome joins Thomas on the Tour de France podium: "He's not out of it necessariy, there's a big mountain day to come, and the time trial.

"We'll sit down tonight, review everything, see how everybody feels then make our plan of attack."

Froome cracked and lost time, 1m 35s behind, and dropped from second to third overall on GC, he's now 2 minutes, 31 seconds behind Thomas.

Tom Dumoulin moved up to second, 1m 59s behind Thomas, the Welsh rider who is seeking his first Grand Tour victory.

2018 Tour de France GC after Stage 17 

1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 70:34:11 
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:59 
3 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:02:31 
4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:47 
5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:30 
6 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:04:19 
7 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:34 
8 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:13 
9 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:33 
10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:09:31