Two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard was brought down by an errant photographer after crossing the line on stage 16.
The Dane crashed after the finish on the legendary climb of Mont Ventoux, where he finished second, losing another two seconds to longtime rival and yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar.
The stage was won by Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal-QuickStep, who outsprinted Ireland’s Ben Healy in a thrilling battle on one of the Tour’s most iconic summits.
“Some photographer just ran straight in front of me straight after the finish line, I don't know what he was doing,” the Danish rider told media assembled at the finish.
“I went down. People in the finish area should use their eyes a bit more.”
Vingegaard did not look hurt but was clearly frustrated by the incident.
Otherwise stage 16 was promising for the Visma-Lease a Bike rider, whose team worked cohesively together to pile the pressure on Pogacar and guide Vingegaard to the upper slopes of the summit.
The Dane attacked multiple times to try to distance Pogacar but could not distance the Slovenian, who counter-attacked into the closing kilometres and finally eked out a small gap in the sprint for the line.
He said: “I was feeling very good today, happy with the attacks I tried to do, of course I didn’t gain any time but I take a lot of motivation from today.”
Vingegaard now sits 4:15 off the pace, with German youngster Florian Lipowitz 9:03 back in third place.
