Peaks pee, falls … When is it admitted or not to attack leaders on the Tour de France?

During the 11th stage on Wednesday, Tadej Pogacar fell in the last kilometers but without impact on the general classification of the Tour de France since its competitors decided to wait for it.

“Respect for the peloton.” After his fall six kilometers from the finish in Toulouse on Wednesday July 16, Tadej Pogacar underlined the respect of his competitors, who waited for him, on the 12th stage of the Tour de France. But a few hours earlier, he had complained, on the radio, of attacks at the head of the peloton when he stopped, like the yellow jersey, Ben Healy, for a pee break. If there are implicit rules between runners, nothing forces them to respect them.

“More than rules, these are codes”Pose Lilian Calmejane, former runner (from 2015 to 2024) and France TV Sport consultant. “And it is not the fact that Pogacar fell, but that he suffered this fall once the battle had taken place. It was the end of the stage and at that time, given the profile, it was not exploitable. It is necessary to take into account the context. If there was no escape and that this head group was playing the win, nobody would have waited”. Kévin Vauquelin, who attacked at the time of the fall and did not see the Slovenian fall, confirms: “If it is a fall where he makes the mistake, it's different. But it was better like that to stop”.

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The same goes for the famous “pee breaks”, naturally inevitable. They often take place once the breakaway has been validated by the peloton, which lets it go, and when the leader in the general classification stops. “When you stop pissing, it's better to wait, these are internal rules that are not written, but these are rules of humanity”underlines Kévin Vauquelin.

But Wednesday, this rule was not really respected, with accelerations at the head of the peloton to catch up with the escape, which trapped Tadej Pogacar and Ben Healy in a second group. Runners from the Astana team, who also paid the price, deplored on the radio that there was “More rules in cycling”. “When you take a pee break and the breakaway has a minute thirty in advance, that the yellow jersey stops, in the cycling code, it is really very very badly seen to revive, and there can be resentful runners”says Lilian Calmejane, winner of a stage on the Tour de France in 2017.

However, all these implicit rules do not have the same value according to the runners involved. “It is the world champion and second in the general classification, for a fall caused by a racing movement”underlines Kévin Vauquelin. But “If it had been the opposite, that Pogacar had caused the fall of Tobias Johannessen, I do not know if we would have waited”wonders Guillaume Martin (Groupama-FDJ). “They are Ben Healy A Jonas Vingegaard (considered the main competitor of Pogacar) Who put themselves forward to make people understand that no one could attack and that it was expected. I think Vingegaard wants a pedal battle. But second curtain runners like me, we are a little disadvantaged to wait for big leaders because it is sure they will not expect us “, Regrets Jordan Jegat (Totalenergies), 14th in the general classification.

Among women, however, Demi Vollering, claiming the final victory in 2024, had not been expected during his fall on the fifth stage, and had lost a minute and nineteen seconds. “Maybe men are a little nicer”she commented on Instagram on Wednesday, after the misadventure known by Tadej Pogacar.