Stage 10 of Tour de France disrupted by climate change protestors

Tuesday's Stage 10 of the 2022 Tour de France was temporarily paused due to a group of climate change protestors who positioned themselves right in the middle of the road along the course.

Alberto Bettiol was the first cyclist to encounter the seven protestors sitting on the road surrounded by French police and their vehicles along with a pink cloud of smoke from a flare placed on the ground. Bettiol was forced to slow down and navigate through the obstacles in his path before being notified that the race was being paused. Meanwhile, the chase group and the peloton were halted further up the race route to give the police more time to secure safe passage around the demonstrators.

Overall, the race was halted for about 10 minutes as race organizers arranged for the cyclists to pass the protestors and restart the stage 36 kilometers before the finish. Bettiol was given a 25-second headstart over the chasers, with the peloton resuming nearly 7 and a half minutes after the chasers.

Danish cyclist Magnus Cort Nielsen went on to win Stage 10, while Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar retained the yellow jersey with an 11 second lead over the field. 

[Video via NBC Sports. H/T Tour de France.]

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About Michael James

Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.