Cyclist fined after kissing wife at Tour de France
COLOMBEY-LES-DEUX-EGLISES, FRANCE—The friends and family of Julien Bernard gathered to greet him as the Tour de France passed by his home during Friday’s stage in Burgundy giving him a welcome that authorities found too warm.
Celebrations went too far for the International Cycling Union (UCI) race commissaries.
While the commissaries normally watched rules concerning answering the call of nature in public or deviating dangerously from one’s line, Friday’s offense 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.”
Thankful
The $223 fine imposed by the UCI was “for behavior damaging to the image of the sport.”
“My 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,” explained the 32-year-old.
The authorities were more bothered by the behavior of his friends who threatened the security barrier. He came 61st on the day.
