The bizarre sight of the race leaders on the road, Jacky Durand and Christophe Oriol, leaning on their bikes signing autographs during the middle of the stage is today's moment.

Their eight-minute advantage over the main field was reduced by nearly three and a half minutes when they had the misfortune to be held up at a railway crossing.

Rules bent

After a lengthy wait, chat and autograph session, what seemed like the longest goods train in France chugged by.

The rules state that it is just bad luck if you get held up and the race still hasn't caught you when the barrier goes back up.

But the two Frenchmen were helped out by the organisers.

They went against their own rule book and made the main field slow down and then briefly stop in order to try to restore the escapees' advantage.

It didn't help in the long run, with Erik Zabel winning after Durand and Oriol were caught less than 10 kilometres from the line.