Mountain biker soars over huge gap above Tour de France peloton
A 19-year-old rider cleared a huge gap over the peloton on Stage 10 from Saint-Flour to Albi
Gapping the peloton on a mountain bike is nearly an annual tradition at the Tour de France. On Stage 10, 19-year-old French rider Valentin Anouilh soared high over the riders somewhere between Saint-Flour and Albi. The stage itself delivered high drama with splits in crosswinds that was won by Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
The stunt didn’t immediately get much attention but on Tuesday morning during the Tour’s first rest day, Ben King (EF Education First) wondered if there was video of the stunt and before long the riders Youtube and Instagram accounts were found to show footage of the stunt captured by an action camera attached to his helmet. Spectators on the side of the road presumably set up to catch his jump also recoreded footage.
Did anyone else see a mountain biker hit a 30 ft drop over us in the @LeTour yesterday? Is there a video? Want to make sure I’m not hallucinating! ? #tourdefrance
— Ben King (@BenKing89) July 16, 2019
The high flying rider used a jump from a wooded cliff face to clear the Tour riders. While it wasn’t immediately clear if the broadcast cameras even captured the stunt as it appears to have occurred in the first 20 km or so, someone found the moment on film.
In 2018, a mountain biker gapped the Montée du plateau des Glières while in 2017 a freerider Szymon Godziek backflipped over the peloton at the Tour of Poland on a road bike.
