Tour De France : trivia question

hinault

After a few of us vets did our weekend spin in the pub afterwards, the chat turned to the Tour.

Does any here remember the stage finish during a Tour in the mid-late 1990's where three spoofers managed to get on to the course riding in a yellow jersey, green jersey and the polka dot jersey respectively?:D
They got on to the course in the last kilometre just ahead of the stage winner and they proceeded to "win" the stage. Can anyone recall which Tour/stage this happened on?

I remember seeing it on Eurosport and Dave Duffield ending up completely confused as he commented about a rider in yellow suddenly coming out of nowhere to win the stage:D

spoke2cun

U might find it on youtube.

Hermy

Damned if I can find it. Remember watching it and I think they were Basque protesters.

hinault

I've searched Youtube to no avail.

If I remember correctly the stage finish was a mountaintop finish. For some reason Mende comes to mind but that might be wrong.
I thought that it was a stage that Pantani won, but i've checked youtube to no avail.

I've googled this incident where the fake yellow jersey, fake green point jersey and fake polkadot jersey riders all appeared in the last kilometre of that stage, but I can't find any reference to it.

This happened at a TDF in the late 1990's. Duffield was definitely commentating at the time for Eurosport.

Hermy

I spent the morning looking for it to no avail!

hinault

Hermy wrote: »

I spent the morning looking for it to no avail!

I'm almost certain that this happened after 1996 but before 1999 Tour.

Hermy

Looking at the clips it would fit in with that era as regards picture quality, bikes etc and I think the winner wasn't wearing a helmet. And if they were Basque protesters then it would suggest Pyrenees rather than Alps though this hasn't helped me so far.
Maybe we imagined it...

Felloffmebike

Reading Geoffrey Wheatcroft's excellent "Le Tour" at the moment covering first 100 years, 1903 to 2003 and can't find any mention of it in the sections covering 1996 onwards.

2 Wheels Good

Found it! Year was 2000

Link

Tour imposters identified as Basque militants

July 17 2000 at 01:25pm

Courchevel, France - Tour de France organisers said on Monday they had identified as Basque demonstrators three men on bicycles who gatecrashed the finish of Sunday's 15th stage in Courchevel.

The three were believed to belong to a group of pro-ETA militants known as "giraldillas" who have made spectacular demonstrations in the past by breaking into public meetings or television shows.

The three were disguised as Tour riders and one of them, dressed in the Tour leader's yellow jersey, managed to sprint across the line with a group of real riders.

He raised his arms and pictures showed he had a slogan on his jersey reading: "Free Basque prisoners".

Another militant sporting a polka dot jersey (king of the mountains) was stopped by Tour stewards. Another was wearing a jersey from the Spanish Kelme team.

Organisers said they were discussing with the police whether to file a complaint. - Reuters

hinault

2 Wheels Good wrote: »

Found it! Year was 2000

Link

Tour imposters identified as Basque militants

July 17 2000 at 01:25pm

Courchevel, France - Tour de France organisers said on Monday they had identified as Basque demonstrators three men on bicycles who gatecrashed the finish of Sunday's 15th stage in Courchevel.

The three were believed to belong to a group of pro-ETA militants known as "giraldillas" who have made spectacular demonstrations in the past by breaking into public meetings or television shows.

The three were disguised as Tour riders and one of them, dressed in the Tour leader's yellow jersey, managed to sprint across the line with a group of real riders.

He raised his arms and pictures showed he had a slogan on his jersey reading: "Free Basque prisoners".

Another militant sporting a polka dot jersey (king of the mountains) was stopped by Tour stewards. Another was wearing a jersey from the Spanish Kelme team.

Organisers said they were discussing with the police whether to file a complaint. - Reuters

well done

"Kelme" rider at 0.25seconds
"yellow Jersey" at 1min 20 onwards:D

The tax man

2000 Tour Stage 15(paper article)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O3Mwz8VKws

Save yourself the Phil+Paul show and skip to 21.00.
Going by the paper article,it sounds like what you are looking for. The TV coverage doesn't show much of what the paper states,only one imposter coming from behind Pantani, but it's an edited highlights program so probably told not to show the rest.

The tax man

Christ this thread goes no where all day then takes off like a bat out of hell.

Oh hang on it's the year 2000 we're talking about.::pac::pac:

Hermy

Well done on finding the clip lads!:)

josip

Ah Pantani, the cycling medicine cabinet.

Hermy

The commentary is interesting to say the least!