MENDE, France — Perhaps more than any other professional sport, cycling allows fans virtually unrestricted and close up access to its athletes, for better and worse.

On Saturday in the 14th stage of the Tour de France, it was for the worse. About 30 to 40 miles into the race, a man threw urine at the overall leader, Britain’s Chris Froome, and shouted “dopé” or doped, Froome said.

Richie Porte, Froome’s teammate, said he received a “full-on punch” from a spectator earlier in the week.

Froome said the attacks were “unacceptable on so many different levels.” As for the cause, he said he blamed journalists who had been “extremely irresponsible in the way they’ve reported on the race.”

Froome was referring to widespread reporting on claims that his strong performance, and those of others on his Team Sky, is related to doping, an allegation they have firmly denied.

Froome, who managed to increase his lead Saturday, said he was unaware if extra security had been added around him or his team.

“I’m not scared about this,” he said. “I just hope it doesn’t interfere with racing.”

All was normal before the stage began Saturday morning. Jim Ochowicz, a co-owner of the American BMC team, was being careful not to be too smug about his team’s performance at the Tour.

While the two other American teams at the race, Cannondale-Garmin and Trek, have found little success, BMC had much to brag about: It has won three stages, had one rider in the yellow race leader’s jersey and, on Saturday morning, Tejay van Garderen was in second place overall.

Ochowicz, nevertheless, was cautious with his words.

“We don’t have bragging rights to a spot on the podium in Paris until it happens,” he said in an area set aside for the team buses and cars in Rodez, where the 111-mile stage began. “But we’re moving in the right direction.”

The stage, however, brought a slight reversal for BMC. In a confused series of attacks and counterattacks on the formidably steep if comparatively short climb to the finish, van Garderen was unable to follow Froome and the Colombian climber Nairo Quintana. That knocked van Garderen down to third overall, 3 minutes, 32 seconds behind Froome. Quintana assumed second place, 3:10 behind. The stage was won by Steve Cummings of the MTN-Qhubeka team.

“I tend to struggle on really short, steep climbs like that,” van Garderen said. “It’s not entirely an unsuccessful day, I just knew it was one I had to get through. Now the Alps, they present more opportunities.”

Given that Saturday’s race finished with a climb, followed by a flat sprint on an airport runway, Cummings, an English rider whose previous employers include Team Sky, was an improbable winner.

“I’m not really a sprinter, I’m not really a climber,” he said after the stage. “You just have to wait for the right day.”