Cycling-Yates main victim of farcical Tour arch incident

By Julien Pretot LAC DE PAYOLLE, France, July 8 (Reuters) - The seventh stage of the Tour de France ended in farcical fashion on Friday when the inflatable arch marking one km to go deflated and slowed down the bunch, sending Briton Adam Yates to the grouns. Yates got back on his bike and crossed the line with blood on his chin. "He was on his own when it happened, the arch fell in front of him and he did not have time to brake so he did a somersault and fell on his face," his Orica-Bike Exchange sports director Lorenzo Lapage said. "The doctor is checking him up, his shoulder is aching." Yates lost considerable ground but he and the members of the bunch who were slowed down by the incident should not lose time, race director Thierry Gouvenou said. "We have a time control at the 3km (left) mark so it is likely that we'll be taking the timings at that point," he said. "We're doing our best to make up for it. It's a major incident but we've got the means to face this." (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)