French cyclist Julien Bernard fined after stopping to kiss his wife at the Tour de France
By Issy Ronald, CNN
(CNN) — French cyclist Julien Bernard has offered a playful apology after he was fined for stopping to kiss his wife on Friday during a stage of the Tour de France.
āIām sorry for having damaged the image of the sport,ā Bernard posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, alongside a grimacing emoji, ābut I would pay 200 CHF ($220) every day to relive this moment.ā
The individual time trial on Stage 7 of this yearās race traversed 25.3 kilometers (roughly 15.7 miles) of Bernardās home roads from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin in Burgundy, and so his family and friends had flocked to the roadside to cheer him on, waving homemade posters that said āAllez JB!ā and jumping in the middle of the road.
At one point, Bernard stopped briefly to kiss his wife, who was holding their child in her arms, as others on the roadside converged on them before parting to let Bernard through again.
In his post on X, Bernard included a screenshot of the fine issued by the UCI, cyclingās governing body, which said the French cyclist had engaged in āunseemly or inappropriate behaviour during the race and damage to the image of the sport.ā
CNN has reached out to the UCI for comment.
āIād been waiting for this moment since the route was announced last October,ā he told local newspaper Le Bien Public.
āThis kind of moment comes once in a lifetime and never mind if they fined me. The fine was explained as for behavior damaging to the image of the sport.
āMy wife organized 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.ā
It is relatively common for cyclists, especially French cyclists at a race as big as the Tour de France, to stop and acknowledge their friends and family by the roadside if it is at a more relaxed moment in the race.
Danish cyclist Magnus Cort replied to Bernardās post on X with a video of himself kissing his wife by the roadside and quipped: āWhat a joke. I guess I was lucky when they missed me a couple of days ago.ā
However, former US cyclist Lance Armstrong seemed less than impressed. āOh no, heās straight up stopped,ā said Armstrong in an Instagram story he posted. āOh no, no, no.ā
Bernard eventually finished 61st on the stage, 3:11 behind stage winner Remco Evenepoel.
CNNās Eve Brennan contributed to this report.
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