Gianni Moscon, one of Team Sky’s key climbing support riders to Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome, was kicked off the Tour de France on Sunday night, after raising his fist towards Elie Gesbert, a French rider from the Fortuneo-Samsic team in the opening kilometre of Sunday’s stage from Millau to Carcassonne.
The Italian Moscon, who admitted to racially abusing another professional, Kevin Reza, in April 2017, was also investigated by the UCI following claims that he had pushed another rider off his bike last autumn and was disqualified from the World Championships road race last year for holding on to a team car. The latest incident was reviewed by race commissaires after the stage finish in Carcassonne, who then disqualified him. The race commissaires said Moscon had been disqualified for “particularly serious aggression”.
After the incident in April 2017, Moscon was warned about his behaviour and Team Sky said that “any repeat will result in termination of his contract”. In a statement on Sunday night Sky accepted the commissaires’ decision, apologised for the incident and said they will investigate the matter futher at the end of the Tour.Thomas, meanwhile, had expected to enjoy a quiet rest day in Carcassonne, with only a brief ninety minute ride, and an afternoon lying in bed. “Every day in the peloton is stressful’ Thomas said after Sunday’s finish, “so it’s nice not to fight for a day.” Now however, the hostility towards Team Sky seems certain to increase.
Aside from the usual flurry of boos, stage 15 was uneventful for the 2018 Tour’s race leader. Ahead of Thomas and the other main contenders, a breakaway move climaxed with victory for Denmark’s Magnus Cort Neilsen in his first Tour de France, and completed a successful weekend for his Astana team, which also won Saturday’s stage to Mende. But yet again the atmosphere on the road towards Thomas and his fellow Sky team members was poisonous. Further criticism from across the French media rained down on Sky over the weekend, targeting in particular Thomas and his teammate Chris Froome.
“It’s not a nice situation because this is a highlight of my career,” Thomas said of the continuing hostility towards him. “It’s a massive honour and a privilege to be wearing the jersey and it’s been an incredible race so far. There’s obviously been a bit of negativity which isn’t nice, but you have to stay strong in your head and crack on.
“The way I see it, I would rather be in this jersey, having the race of my life and getting booed for whatever than being dropped on the first climb and everyone cheering you.”Meanwhile, the outcome of the race is still in the balance, but the reception of the locals to the prospect of another Team Sky success is no longer in doubt. Effectively there are two races being run side by side, one focusing on the leadership intrigues at Team Sky and the other arguing that this Tour, tainted by suspicion and spectator hostility, represents a new low point in the popularity of the race.
While French television coverage preserves, through gritted teeth, the myth of camaraderie and celebration, the Twitter feeds of leading riders tell a different story, as do the declining TV ratings.