Tour de Farce: Moto madness as official's bike fells Jakob Fuglsang

What do French motorcyclists have against the Danes? Four years ago Nicki Sorensen was knocked of his bike and dragged along by a motorcycle on the side of the road – and history repeated itself on stage 18 of the Tour in the Alps.

Leading a select breakaway up the steep slopes of the Col du Glandon, Astana’s Fuglsang – wearing the brightest kit in the peloton, no less – was clipped by a passing press bike, almost causing eventual stage winner Romain Bardet to be caught up in the ensuing tangle.

The hit-and-run collision left Fuglsang needing to chase back his fellow escapees before the summit – and delivered the Dane with the flamboyant hair a nasty cut to his right elbow.

Asked about it the incident at the finish, Fuglsang – who took fifth place 59 seconds behind Bardet – said: “I got driven down by the motorbike from behind. It’s scandalous.”

After taking a long swig of San Pellegrino fizzy water, revealing his blood soaked arm, Fuglsang added: “I was in the front, pulling out to change with Bardet, and the motorcycle came from behind, hit my handlebars and took me down.

“He can be happy he’s not close to me now, that motorcycle driver.”

And lucky for the motorcyclist in question – he won’t be anywhere near Fuglsang in the near future because he has been promptly kicked off the Tour.

Later on Fuglsang, who has finished second in a Tour stage for the past three years running, retweeted a video posted by Danish TV that showed the incident captured from another angle.

In fact, it showed that the motorcyclist had narrowly avoided mowing down Ryder Hesjedal just seconds before clipping Fuglsang.

The driver of the bike – which reportedly belonged to Tour organisers ASO – clearly hasn’t a leg to stand on and should be relieved that the ramifications merely involved being kicked off the race rather than causing serious injury.

But it’s worth adding that had the shoe been on the other foot, or the motor on the other bike if you will – an idea not so difficult to conceive in the case of Hesjedal, famously accused of concealing a motor in his frame in last year’s Vuelta – then the response may have been very different.

For it does look uncannily like the Canadian who puts his head down and targets the motorbike like a dive bomber, while Fuglsang may perhaps now think twice about pulling away and veering across the road in such exaggerated fashion when trying to encourage fellow escapees to take up pace-setting duties...

Still, the Dane showed his sense of humour at the finish with a nod to his growing collection of bridesmaid finishes on the Tour.

“He [Bardet] went on to win the stage. I could have gone with him and with two there would have been a chance – if not the win hen at least for another second place.”

That’s probably a fair assessment given how Bardet was descending.

One day after Thibaut Pinot delivered a How Not To Go Down masterclass on the Col d’Allos, his fellow Frenchman channelled his own descent of the same climb from last month’s Criterium du Dauphine and transported it to the Glandon.

Such aerodynamic dexterity did not go unnoticed by the bon vivant manager of rival team Cannondale-Garmin, who had earlier jinxed his men Dan Martin, Andrew Talansky and Hesjedal by suggesting it may well be their day.

The compliments came in thick and fast on social media as Bardet ran the gamut of bike-hugging positions worthy of cycling’s Kama Sutra…

Although had Vaughters seen the above picture he may well have reconsidered the actual presence of Bardet’s cojones…

All this daredevil downhilling gave pencil-thin Bardet a decent 50-second cushion as he approached the stunning 18 hairpin bends of the Lacets de Montvernier - a final climb so ridiculous it might as well have been a computer game.

Meanwhile, some of the initial breakaway were very much blowing up under the pressure.

Of course, while Bardet held on for a second home victory for the host nation and his Ag2R-La Mondiale team, the scenery was the biggest winner of the day…

Oh, and those riders who had their bikes checked for motors? Messieurs Bardet, Froome, Sagan, Quintana, Rodriguez and Rolland... Quite a stellar list for a random test.

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In a nutshell: This short, sharp and quite frankly sadistic schlep features four back-to-back climbs and will encourage attacking riding from the outset. In fact, it could well be the queen stage.

History: When Pierre Rolland won in La Toussuire in 2012 it was overshadowed by the incident that saw Chris Froome ordered back to help yellow jersey Bradley Wiggins after both Sky riders had become detached on the final ascent. The race's only previous finish at La Toussuire resulted in a solo victory to Denmark's Michael Rassmussen.

Believe it or not: Thibaut Pinot, aged 22 and riding his debut Tour, finished second at La Toussuire behind Rolland in 2012 to underline his promise, with the likes of Froome, Wiggins and Nibali all further behind. A year earlier, Pinot was second on the same mountain behind Joaquim Rodriguez in the Dauphine. Can he make it third time lucky – or will he do a Fuglsang?

Did you know: The opening climb of the day, the Col du Chaussy - a Nordic skiing hotspot - is being used for the first time on the Tour and starts by retracing the final descent of the previous day. The road continues past the top of the Lacets de Montvernier climb before continuing to the summit.

Look out for: the 30 metre-high fountain in the middle of the lake in the town of Saint-Remy-de-Maurienne - and the three jagged peaks of the Arves Needles near La Toussuire. The helicopter cameras will have a field day.

Plat du jour: The creamy yet crumbly Beaufort cheese is produced near to the town of La Chambre, an area the peloton passes through after the opening climb of the Col du Chaussy.

Tour tipple: Produced by monks in the area since the 1737, Chartreuse is a dark green liqueur aged with 130 herbs, plants and flowers which, to be fair, is pretty foul and will give you a stonking hangover.