Jack Bauer: 'I wanted to crash into the UAE car because I knew it was softer'
The New Zealander explains why he opted to crash into the back of a car on Tour de France stage 18
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Every year at the Tour de France there is a story of a rider who continues racing despite an injury, dumbfounding the rest of the watching world who cannot comprehend why they persist despite the pain.
Last year it was Simon Clarke riding 17 stages with a broken back, and this year it could well be Jack Bauer who crashed hard into the back of a UAE-Team Emirates car after an hour's racing on stage 18, bouncing off the vehicle and landing hard onto the tarmac.
The BikeExchange-Jayco rider was trying to rejoin the back of the peloton when a narrowing of the road meant that he had no space to avoid a collision between a motorbike and the car, thus forcing him to crash. He was able to remount his bike and complete the stage, sporting only a few cuts at the finish.
Remarkably, it was the second time in a few days that the New Zealander had hit a car, and he said that his experience of doing so impacted his decision to purposefully ride into the back of the UAE vehicle, an accident that was beamed live on TV and resulted in the 37-year-old screaming his unhappiness at the motorcyclist in the immediacy of the event.
Riding his seventh Tour, Bauer explained to Cycling Weekly afterwards: "We [he and Team DSM rider Nils Eekhoff who crashed in front of the UAE car] could see it happening: the cars and motorbikes had stopped, and there was not enough space.
"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.
"It was such a ramp. 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."
One of Dylan Groenewegen's domestiques, a pragmatic Bauer refused to blame the motorcyclist or the driver of the UAE car for the incident, explaining that accidents like that rarely happen.
"I don’t like to give away free speed," he continued. "I like to shoot gaps when I make breakaways, not because I have a bigger engine but because I can come with speed, I can follow wheels, and what happened today was probably a result of that.
"You are always right on the limit of being either on your bike, on the road or in the back of a car. Normally things work out well; the drivers and other bike riders are good and things flow. We merge and it’s more or less like flowing water, but every now and again, like today for Nils and I, there’s something stationery in our path."
Bauer confessed that he had used some "unsavoury" language at the time, adding, "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."
Thank you for reading 10 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Chris first started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2013 on work experience and has since become a regular name in the magazine and on the website. Reporting from races, long interviews with riders from the peloton and riding features drive his love of writing about all things two wheels.
Probably a bit too obsessed with mountains, he was previously found playing and guiding in the Canadian Rockies, and now mostly lives in the Val d’Aran in the Spanish Pyrenees where he’s a ski instructor in the winter and cycling guide in the summer. He almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains.
-
-
Specialized's radical frame design breaks cover and it's not on the bike we expected
The distinctive 'compliance junction' feature is matched with FutureShock suspension and generous tire clearances on the Sirrus Carbon flat-bar bike
By Luke Friend • Published
-
Grab an Garmin Edge 530 discount while you still can - plus more in Amazon UK's Spring Sale
We've picked out a small - but perfectly formed - selection of the best Amazon deals right now
By Stefan Abram • Published
-
100 days until the Tour de France: How the contenders are shaping up
How are the leading GC riders looking a century away from the biggest bike race of them all?
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Summit finish and final day time-trial for 2024 Tour de France finale in Nice
Stage 20 will finish atop the Col de la Couillole before final day race against the clock in Nice
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
Closing the gap: David Gaudu emerges from Paris-Nice more confident than ever before
The Groupama-FDJ rider finished second overall at the Race to the Sun, but gained more than just the result
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Goodbye lime: We need to talk about the Tour de France green jersey
There's change afoot at ASO's French races, with the combativity colour also undergoing a revamp
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Paris-Nice just first step on the road to Tour de France redemption for Tadej Pogačar
The UAE Team Emirates rider might have won the Race to the Sun but he is not taking anything for granted
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Tom Boonen invited to test Colnago V4Rs after criticism of Tadej Pogačar's bike
Boonen and fellow ex-pro Dirk de Wolf invited to Italy for a "public conversation" on the data they used to make claim that bike hindered two-time Tour de France champion
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
In celebration of Peter Sagan, cycling's rock and roll frontman
As the three-time world champion is set to call time on his career in the WorldTour at the end of 2023, we thought we would take a look back at the glory days
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
‘You never know in the Tour’ - Romain Bardet fearless as he lines up Tour de France GC bid
The 32-year-old is ready to play the tactical game this July
By Tom Davidson • Published