Gap - stage 18
Gap - stage 18
Gap is famous – or infamous, if you prefer – for a number of reasons. The largest town in the Hautes-Alps region, Gap has hosted the Tour on 21 different occasions. In 1970 Eddy Merckx dropped everyone on the way to Mont Ventoux from Gap, and in 2013 the famous stage that ended with a double ascent of Alpe d’Huez also started in the Alpine town.
But one of the most memorable – and unfortunate – moments was in 2003. The stage was due to finish in Gap, and Alexandre Vinokourov, finally unleashed by Team Telekom after Jan Ullrich’s move to Bianchi, shot off the front of the race on the descent of the Cote de La Rochette. Various riders shot off in pursuit, including maillot jaune Lance Armstrong and Joseba Beloki, leader of the ONCE-Eroski team.
Beloki, who was in second place, 40 seconds behind Armstrong, was leading the Texan into a corner when he slid on a patch of road, causing him to lose control (and his tyre to roll off the rim) ultimately slamming the Basque rider into the floor, breaking his right wrist, elbow and femur.
Armstrong, who was right on Beloki’s wheel, somehow managed to avoid the fallen rider, but the trade off was that he had to take a cross-country route through a field, jump off the bike, across a ditch and back on again, in what has become an iconic piece of Tour footage.
It was on the same road that Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas crashed into a telegraph pole after being shoulder-barged by Warren Barguil on stage 16 of this year’s race. The race will return to Gap on Thursday for the start of stage 18, which follows an incessantly lumpy 186.5km route to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, via seven categorised climbs, including the hors categorie Col du Glandon.