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VAISON LA ROMAINE, France -- It was the sort of incident that, sadly, was waiting to happen.The shambolic finish to the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday was littered with senseless crowds,? which ruined a dramatic finale. Not only did the incident halt the attack of British two-time Tour champion Chris Froome and Australian Richie Porte, but it turned the finale into a farce.In the shortened 178km stage from Montpellier to Mont Ventoux, Froome (Sky) and Porte (BMC) each crashed into a television motor bike that had been stopped by a virtual wall of fans. This happened as the two, along with Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), were extending their lead on the group of rivals with 1.2 kilometers to go. The replays showed Porte riding straight into the back of the motor bike, striking his chin as he went to the ground, with Froome and Mollema following suit.In addition to the crowds, another contributing factor to the crash was the lack of barriers leading up to the finish. Because the distance of the stage was shortened due to gale-force winds, organizers had not brought more barriers down from the initial finish at the summit of Mont Ventoux.Some might argue that this years Tour has become farcical, remembering the embarrassment of the one-kilometrer-to-go arch falling onto British rider Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) on Saturday. And to think Thursdays crash came just five days after Froomes impassioned plea for crowds to respect the riders and not run too close to them.But the drama didnt end with the crashes. First came the sight of Froome dropping his broken bike, after he got back up on his feet and ran for 50 seconds. Who could have imagined? The yellow jersey wearer, a two-time Tour winner, running as if he was in a triathlon transition zone through the still cheering and shocked masses. He stopped to resume cycling only when the neutral service gave him a spare, but ill-fitting, bike. Finally, his Sky team car reached him to provide a better bike.Then as Mollema raced ahead, the rivals he, Froome and Porte had worked so hard to drop caught up with the chaos, only to sweep by Froome and Porte, who finished 19th and 25th respectively. Meanwhile, Belgian rider Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) won the stage.But the race jury overturned the provisional results and declared a new race leader in Yates, who began the stage in second place overall. Froome and Porte were awarded the same finishing time as Mollema, who placed 10th at 5:05, and Froome was officially put back into first place overall with a lead of 47 seconds on Yates and 54 seconds on Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar). As for Porte, he was up from 14th to 11th overall -- but still at 2:22 to Froome.Froome: Expect the unexpected at the TourYates welcomed the overturn. I dont want to take the jersey like that, he said. Id rather take it with my legs and not a crash in a bad situation. If I was in the same situation in the yellow jersey, Id want the same outcome.Froome did not attend the post stage media zone or news conference that is normally required of the yellow jersey wearer. But he spoke to French Television and released a statement on the Team Sky website: Mount Ventoux always throws up something different, and today was no exception. Obviously its really unfortunate what happened in the last couple of kilometres, but ultimately I think common sense has prevailed and the commissaries have come to the right decision -- so Id like to thank them for that. You always have to expect the unexpected at the Tour, and Ive said all along that this would be my biggest challenge yet. Now Im just looking forward to tomorrows time trial.On Friday, the Tour will resume, as it always does after a crisis, for the Stage 13 time trial, 37.5 kilometers from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont DArc. But as Froome, Porte and the rest of the peloton continue on, the understandable and justified calls for crowds to be controlled must be addressed.A lauded trait of the Tour is the interaction between riders and fans who flock in the hundreds of thousands to watch the worlds biggest bike race. But for years, concerns have been brewing at increasing levels of extreme behavior. The reasons have been many. Fan excitement is one. In the 1993, as Italian Giuseppe Guerini (Telekom) was soloing toward victory on the prestigious Alpine finish at lAlpe dHuez, he was bowled over by a spectator who was standing in the middle of the road to take his photo. Guerini still won the stage and the offending fans, to his credit, apologized the next day.However, in recent years, the frenzy has seen more violent intent. Sentiment toward American Lance Armstrong during his reign as the Tour champion from 1999 to 2005 turned from bitter to extremely volatile as suspicion grew that he was doping. Once encouraging messages of support -- that were either verbalized or painted on the road -- became direct personal insults. Suspicion that Armstrong doped eventually proved correct after he confessed and was banned for life in 2012. He was also stripped of his tour titles.Porte: I dont know what they are going to do.Froome and Porte have both experienced the ugly and angry tone of the crowd, as have other riders. In 2013, when Froome won at Mont Ventoux, after dropping Quintana, he rode to victory through a chorus of boos and jeers. Quintana was otherwise greeted by cheers. Just last year, Froome had urine thrown at him, and Porte was punched during a stage.Even on Thursday, when Froome received his yellow jersey, he was also greeted by boos. Porte was at a loss to explain how the crowds became so uncontrollable. I dont know what [race organizers] are going to do. They need to do something about it because its not fair, Porte said. Its not really the motor bikes, is it? Its the crowds. They are in your face the whole time, pushing order, and at the top there, that was just crazy. We were 23 seconds in front and next thing for something so silly, you know everyone is back on us.De Gendt called for action to be taken: There were a lot of people in the last kilometer, he said. They should do something about that. There was not even a place for one moto.Trouble is, after Froomes plea for respect last week clearly fell on the deaf ears, one cant help but ask: What is the solution? Air Max Wholesale . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. Air Max Australia Cheap . 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Esteban Gutierrez has revealed he had a very direct meeting with the Haas team after Austria to address frustrations about the way his recent races have been unfolding.While Gutierrez is still yet to score a point, teammate Romain Grosjean sits 10th in the championship on 28 points. Grosjean returned Haas to the top ten in Austria with a strong drive to seventh.By contrast, Gutierrez was placed in the wrong start setting and dropped back in the opening laps, before a tyre mix-up saw him forced on to a two-stop strategy when the team had originally planned a one stop. The Mexican driver, who went on to finish 11th, said he spoke candidly to the team immediately after the race in Spielberg.Well there are two basic things that happened in Austria, which are the start and the strategy, which is very basic, Gutierrez said ahead of this weekends British Grand Prix. I had a very strong meeting after the race with all the responsible people on these two subjects. Mainly because we want to be a team that is able to score points with two cars, because we have the chance to score with two cars, not only in Austria but also in other races.Things have not gone, on my side, the way it should. Theres been too many times, theres not been one time that was OK where we did the right thing. So I sat down, was very positive, obviously its hard to explain where it come from, but the most important is always now, specifically now, to put the facts on the table, very directly, which is what happened.ddddddddddddDiscuss, and then find a solution. No matter what the hell the situation is, just solve it so that it is reflected in the result.That is the main thing and to work as a team to achieve that, because I cannot be responsible for everything. I mean as a driver Ive been performing, OK you have an influence on the strategy, which is correct, I am the one doing the start and if I have the wrong settings in the back of the car obviously I cannot do anything about it.When asked who was there, he said: Everybody was there, Guenther [Steiner, team boss], all the engineers, everybody ... Its very simple you know, Im not blaming anyone or anything but I ask them to understand how important it is, not only for me, but also as a team to make this right.Also the situation I feel, because it is, OK now I dont feel it because Im very positive, Im already used to it. I know how to manage with it so thats already in the past and it will come. Everybody agreed with it and everybody is pushing hard, things are being changed for this weekend, different procedures, we try to make it right.Haas sits eighth in the championship courtesy of Grosjeans points haul. ' ' '