French cyclist fined 200 Swiss Franc for kissing wife at Tour de France
A French cyclist Julien Bernard was fined 200 Swiss Franc (205 euro/$223) by the sport authorities “for behaviour damaging to the image of the sport”.
While normally these rules concern answering the call of nature in public or deviating dangerously from one’s line, Friday’s offence was of a more festive nature.
With a huge crowd outside Nuits-Saint-Georges chanting the local boy’s name, he stopped to hug and kiss his wife, Margot, who had their child, Charles in her arms at the time.
“I’d been waiting for this moment since the route was announced last October,” he told local newspaper, ‘Le Bien Public’.
“This kind of moment comes once in a lifetime and never mind if they fined me.”
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The 200 Swiss Franc (205 euro/$223) fine imposed by the UCI was ‘for behaviour damaging to the image of the sport’.
“My wife organised for everyone to come and see me at that point of the race and I wanted to show my gratitude and thank her for that,” the 32-year-old cyclist said.
The authorities were more bothered by the behaviour of his friends who whipped up the deep crowds threatening the security barrier and pushing forwards with the locals cheering “Lalalala Julien Bernard”.
For the record, he came 61st on the day, 3 minutes, 11 seconds, down on winner Remco Evenepoel.
Proofreading, editing by Uji A. ILIYASU, Editor at Neptune Prime
