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Tour de France rider hits mountain after wind gust (Photo)

By Matt Couden

TIANJIN, CHINA - APRIL 16: A view inside a smart bike storage at Tianjin University of Technology and Education on April 16, 2017 in Tianjin, China.The eight-meter-tall and wide steel cylinder structure can store 120 bikes with an automated arm to put and get the bikes for the users. Local media say it is China's first smart bike storage facility.PHOTOGRAPH BY Feature China / Barcroft ImagesLondon-T: 44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com -New York-T: 1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com -New Delhi-T: 91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftimages.com (Photo credit should read Feature China / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
TIANJIN, CHINA - APRIL 16: A view inside a smart bike storage at Tianjin University of Technology and Education on April 16, 2017 in Tianjin, China.The eight-meter-tall and wide steel cylinder structure can store 120 bikes with an automated arm to put and get the bikes for the users. Local media say it is China's first smart bike storage facility.PHOTOGRAPH BY Feature China / Barcroft ImagesLondon-T: 44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com -New York-T: 1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com -New Delhi-T: 91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftimages.com (Photo credit should read Feature China / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) /
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Julian Alaphillipe found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time as a gust of wind tossed the Tour de France rider and his bike into a mountain.

Tour de France 2016 rider Julian Alaphilippe was an unlucky recipient of a blast of wind that hit him during Stage 13 of this year’s race. While Alaphilippe won the white jersey in four earlier stages of this year’s annual event, the wind was not so kind on the latter stage. The rider found himself and his bike slammed into the side of a mountain.

The Twitter post shown above features an image of the incident as it happened with Alaphilippe up against the mountain. A caption in French on the tweet loosely translates to “the impressive fall of @alafpolak.” The good news is he apparently only suffered minor scrapes and bruises, as he was able to get up, pick up his bike and complete the stage. A tweet was posted to Alaphilippe’s Twitter page, letting everyone know he escaped serious injury in the incident.

https://twitter.com/quickstepteam/status/754263976238800896

This wasn’t the first crash of this year’s race either. The race saw another that occurred several days ago when overall leader Chris Froome was wiped out by Richie Porte. In that incident, Porte had hit into a motorbike with a TV camera, which ended up taking out Froome during Stage 12. Froome frantically ran up the mountain on that part of the course in order to try to resume the race.

As mentioned, Alaphilippe won the white jersey in Stage 2 through 6 of the race. The Tour de France recently completed Stage 14 Saturday, which was won by Mark Cavendish, making for his fourth stage win at the event. However, Froome continues to maintain the overall leader with about a week left before the race finishes.

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