Silly TDF fans cause punctures

Race director Jean-Francois Pescheux said: "One or two spectators had thrown nails on to the road, we don't know why, but there were around 30 punctures altogether."

Pescheux said the nails had been thrown onto the road on the final, steep stretch leading to the summit of the Mur de Peguere climb, 38km from the finish.

"The nails were mainly thrown on the ground around 200 metres from the summit. Andreas Kloden, for example, had to get off his bike just before the summit where he was given a bike by (team-mate) Maxime Monfort.

"At the end, some riders ended up with two or three nails in their tyres."

Australian Cadel Evans, the 2011 champion, appeared to be one of the big victims of the incident.

He had to wait at the summit for a wheel change for nearly two minutes and changed wheels again on the descent.

Luckily for the BMC rider, the Sky team of race leader Bradley Wiggins sat up and waited, allowing Evans and other riders to get back onto the peloton.

"Sky showed they are for fair play," added Pescheux.

"They saw that something had happened and they slowed the peloton so that things could come together for the ride to the finish.

"There are always some idiots out there. What else can I say."

Results from the 14th stage of Tour de France, a 191km ride from Limoux to Foix on Sunday:

1. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 4h50min 29sec
(average: 39.5 km/h)
2. Peter Sagan (SVK/LIQ) at 0:47.
3. Sandy Casar (FRA/FDJ) 0:47.
4. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/BMC) 0:47.
5. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/EUS) 0:47.
6. Sergio Paulinho (POR/SAX) 2:51.
7. Sebastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 2:51.
8. Martin Velits (SVK/OPQ) 3:49.
9. Eduard Vorganov (RUS/KAT) 4:51.
10. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/RAB) 4:53.
11. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 14:53.
12. Luis Angel Mate (ESP/COF) 18:15.
13. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 18:15.
14. Mickael Cherel (FRA/ALM) 18:15.
15. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 18:15.
16. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 18:15.
17. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 18:15.
18. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 18:15.
19. Brice Feillu (FRA/SAU) 18:15.
20. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) 18:15.
21. Johnny Hoogerland (NED/VAC) 18:15.
22. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 18:15.
23. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 18:15.
24. Chris Anker Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 18:15.
25. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 18:15.
26. Davide Malacarne (ITA/EUC) 18:15.
27. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 18:15.
28. Nicolas Roche (IRL/ALM) 18:15.
29. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 18:15.
30. Michael Rogers (AUS/SKY) 18:15.
31. Michael Schr (SUI/BMC) 18:15.
32. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 18:15.
33. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/AST) 18:15.
34. Francis de Greef (BEL/LTB) 18:15.
35. Maxime Monfort (BEL/RSH) 18:15.
36. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 18:15.
37. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 18:15.
38. Rui Costa (POR/MOV) 18:15.
39. Jerome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 18:15.
40. Amal Moinard (FRA/BMC) 18:15.
41. Frank Schleck (LUX/RSH) 18:15.
42. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 18:15.
43. Manuel Quinziato (ITA/BMC) 18:15.
44. George Hincapie (USA/BMC) 18:15.
45. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 18:15.
46. Federico Canuti (ITA/LIQ) 18:15.
47. Michele Scarponi (ITA/LAM) 18:15.
48. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 18:15.
49. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE/AST) 18:15.
50. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 18:15.
51. Denis Menchov (RUS/KAT) 18:15.
52. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR/RSH) 18:15.
53. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 18:15.
54. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 18:15.
55. Andreas Kloden (GER/RSH) 18:15.
56. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 18:15.
57. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/AST) 18:15.
58. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 18:15.
59. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (ESP/MOV) 18:15.
60. Peter Velits (SVK/OPQ) 18:15.
61. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 18:15.
62. Pieter Weening (NED/GEC) 18:15.
63. Jelle Vanendert (BEL/LTB) 18:15.
64. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 18:15.
65. Andrei Kashechkin (KAZ/AST) 18:15.
66. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/MOV) 18:15.
67. Daniel Oss (ITA/LIQ) 18:15.
68. Levi Leipheimer (USA/OPQ) 18:15.
69. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 18:27.
70. Jens Voigt (GER/RSH) 21:19.
71. Anthony Roux (FRA/FDJ) 21:19.
72. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 21:19.
73. Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP/EUS) 21:19.
74. Nicki Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 21:19.
75. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 21:19.
76. Daniel Martin (IRL/GRM) 21:19.
77. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 21:19.
78. Pierrick Fedrigo (FRA/FDJ) 21:19.
79. Simone Stortoni (ITA/LAM) 21:19.
80. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 21:19.
81. Giampaolo Caruso (ITA/KAT) 21:19.
82. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 23:33.
83. Laurens ten Dam (NED/RAB) 23:33.
84. Jorge Azanza (ESP/EUS) 23:33.
85. Stephen Cummings (GBR/BMC) 26:01.
86. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 26:01.
87. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 26:01.
88. Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA/SAU) 26:01.
89. Kevin De Weert (BEL/OPQ) 26:01.
90. Marco Marzano (ITA/LAM) 26:01.
91. Luca Paolini (ITA/KAT) 26:01.
92. Albert Timmer (NED/ARG) 28:18.
93. Jerome Pineau (FRA/OPQ) 28:18.
94. Roy Curvers (NED/ARG) 28:18.
95. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 28:18.
96. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 28:18.
97. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/OPQ) 28:18.
98. Cedric Pineau (FRA/FDJ) 28:18.
99. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 28:18.
100. Koen de Kort (NED/ARG) 28:18.
101. Marco Marcato (ITA/VAC) 28:18.
102. Borut Bozic (SLO/AST) 28:18.
103. Bert Grabsch (GER/OPQ) 28:18.
104. Patrick Gretsch (GER/ARG) 28:18.
105. Romain Zingle (BEL/COF) 28:18.
106. Sebastien Hinault (FRA/ALM) 28:18.
107. Nick Nuyens (BEL/SAX) 28:18.
108. Dominik Nerz (GER/LIQ) 28:18.
109. Greg Henderson (NZL/LTB) 28:18.
110. Simon Gerrans (AUS/GEC) 28:18.
111. Baden Cooke (AUS/GEC) 28:18.
112. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LTB) 28:18.
113. Anders Lund (DEN/SAX) 28:18.
114. Rafael Valls (ESP/VAC) 28:18.
115. Kenny van Hummel (NED/VAC) 28:18.
116. Ruben Plaza (ESP/MOV) 28:18.
117. Daryl Impey (RSA/GEC) 28:18.
118. Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR/FDJ) 28:18.
119. Andre Greipel (GER/LTB) 28:18.
120. Jurgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 28:18.
121. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LTB) 28:18.
122. Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA/SAU) 28:18.
123. Michael Morkov (DEN/SAX) 28:18.
124. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/EUC) 28:18.
125. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 28:18.
126. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/EUC) 28:18.
127. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/LIQ) 28:18.
128. Pablo Urtasun (ESP/EUS) 28:18.
129. Julien Fouchard (FRA/COF) 28:18.
130. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 28:18.
131. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/SAU) 28:18.
132. Juan Jose Haedo (ARG/SAX) 28:18.
133. Jan Ghyselinck (BEL/COF) 28:18.
134. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/MOV) 28:18.
135. Christian Vande Velde (USA/GRM) 28:18.
136. Danilo Hondo (GER/LAM) 28:18.
137. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 28:18.
138. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 28:18.
139. Mathieu Sprick (FRA/ARG) 28:18.
140. Yann Huguet (FRA/ARG) 28:18.
141. Jonathan Cantwell (AUS/SAX) 28:18.
142. Matthew Goss (AUS/GEC) 28:18.
143. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 28:18.
144. Stuart O'Grady (AUS/GEC) 28:18.
145. Dries Devenyns (BEL/OPQ) 28:18.
146. Johan Van Summeren (BEL/GRM) 28:18.
147. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 28:18.
148. Mark Cavendish (GBR/SKY) 28:18.
149. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 28:18.
150. Joan Horrach (ESP/KAT) 28:18.
151. Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 28:18.
152. Aliaksandr Kuschynski (BLR/KAT) 28:18.
153. Karsten Kroon (NED/SAX) 28:18.
154. Michael Albasini (SWI/GEC) 28:18.
155. Bram Tankink (NED/RAB) 28:18.
156. Sebastian Langeveld (NED/GEC) 28:18.
157. Brett Lancaster (AUS/GEC) 28:18.
158. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 28:18.
159. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 28:30.
160. Vincent Jerome (FRA/EUC) 28:30.
161. Kris Boeckmans (BEL/VAC) 28:30.
162. Christophe Kern (FRA/EUC) 31:53.
. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO/AST) Retired