Another chaotic Tour de France stage climaxed in an embarrassing finale in Spa, when a protest by the peloton overshadowed a spectacular win by Sylvain Chavanel, of France, who also took over the leader’s yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara.
The mass protest, an example of how rider power has increasingly disrupted the ambitious plans of race promoters, led to the neutralisation of the finish-line sprint, after Cancellara, of Switzerland, led a go-slow by the peloton. “We have recognised the points scored by stage-winner Chavanel, but have not awarded points from second to twentieth place,” Jean-François Pescheux, of the Tour organisation, said.
The protest was fuelled by a series of falls on the slick descent of the Col de Stockeu, 33 kilometres from the finish in