A narrow downhill through a residential street with 95 kilometres to go saw Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM) who was just ahead of Bauer, clip a motorbike and go down, causing the UAE Team Emirates car on the right to slow to a stop, leaving only a small lane through the left for the New Zealander to pass through.
But as Bauer drew closer to the car a press motorbike on the left cut off the gap he had to get around, and he was forced to absorb the impact on the back of the car at high speed in what was a shocking incident.
Bauer was justifiably incensed with the driver of the motorbike, giving them a piece of his mind as he walked from the road in obvious distress.
"We [he and Eekhoff] could see it happening: the cars and motorbikes had stopped, and there was not enough space," Bauer recounted to CyclingWeekly after the stage.
"But it was such a steep ramp that the brakes didn’t help much so it was either head off to the left and hit a building or maintain trajectory and hit the UAE car.
"I hit the Shimano car a couple of days ago and I know how soft the panels of a car are compared to either a road or a building. That’s actually not a joke.
"The back light exploded, the back panel of the car took a bit of a dint, too.
I tried to lose some speed but immediately the back wheel just skidded. When the descent is too steep, brakes aren’t much use.
"We are running road bike tyres after all, there’s not much rubber on the road, so I opted for the car. I have a little bit of skin off my elbow, that’s it."
Bauer's incident is another reminder of the fragility of cycling, where a convoy of cars and motorbikes have to navigate the same tricky parcours that can cause all sorts of problems for the riders taking them at considerable speed.
"When someone parks their car or parks their motorbike right in front of you and you’re doing 60kmh coming downhill, you prefer that they didn’t do that.
"But it’s the same as a couple of days ago: I get that the Shimano car is trying to follow yellow, and I get that cars and bikes are all trying to share the same patch of road, and I understand that when there’s a pinch point, like today on a steep descent, the car couldn’t go anywhere neither. The car has to stop, I have to stop, but my tyres are that small so I can’t.
"Maybe a more experienced person would have backed out. You are always right on the limit of being on or off the bike. I’m not pleased with being on the ground twice in four days but apparently that’s the Tour de France for me."
The Tour de France continues with a rare chance for the sprinters on Stage 19. Watch from 8.55pm AEST on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker or on the SBS and SBS On Demand broadcast from 9.30pm AEST.
