Riders cry foul at Tour de France motorbikes, saying Alaphilippe slipstreamed into yellow
After retaking the yellow jersey after a typically swashbuckling late attack on stage 8 of the Tour de France, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was sent on the defensive after being accused of following in the slipstream of camera motorbikes as he and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) sped to the finish.
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) was the first rider to make the accusation, telling Danish television station TV2 that both Alaphilippe and Pinot benefitted from slipstreaming behind camera motorbikes on the run-in to Saint-Étienne.
"We were hoping for a stage victory for Lutsenko or myself, or that I could gain some time in the standings," said Fuglsang. "I just missed out as the two Frenchmen followed the [motor]bike over the top. So even though we were part of the lead group behind, we couldn’t catch them.
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"Yes [they got help], we could see that when we sat down behind. We can see that they’re behind the motorcycle. I was a little surprised at that moment when they attacked. I should not have been so far up but should have instead been further back and closer to them. But that’s how it is."
Alaphilippe responded with sarcasm when asked about the Dane's comments in the post-race press conference, denying that he and Pinot had benefitted from following motorbikes in the final 12 kilometres.
"[Yes]. I put my bike on the car and I took a motorbike," he said sardonically. "It was really fast. It was better [than my bike].
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