sports cycling
“You idiots” – thumbtack attack at the Tour de France
Status: 10:11 a.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
There were five tacks stuck in the tire of Lilian Calmejane’s bike
Which: @L_Calmejane
The second stage of the Tour de France is overshadowed by a scandal. Unknown people distribute tacks along the route and create extremely dangerous situations. In the field of professional cyclists, there is a lack of understanding and anger.
The Tour de France doesn’t give its riders any time to get used to the race. The first two stages took the professional cyclists through very demanding and hilly terrain in the Basque Country. On Sunday the drivers fought their way over 209 kilometers in the Basque country from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastian. 40 kilometers before the finish, they faced a climb that became dangerous for many. Not because of the incline, but because strangers had obviously spread tacks on the road.
French professional cyclist Lilian Calmejane from Team Intermarché-Circus-Wanty posted a video on Twitter showing five thumbtacks in his front tire. “Thank you for this human nonsense,” he wrote. He doesn’t think he was the only victim in the end: “I don’t think I was the only victim of a flat tire in the final. You can fall through your bullshit and hurt yourself very badly, you idiots.”
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Numerous riders had to change their tires about 20 kilometers from the finish line because they had punctures caused by thumbtacks. “I had a slow flat tire and could feel it on the Jaizkibel descent, but I had to break it in. I could feel it slipping a bit in the corners,” said Tom Pidcock. In addition, Groupama sporting director Philippe Mauduit also reported that some of his drivers suffered tire damage from the nails. Two drivers from the Lotto team were also affected.
“We almost all had a flat tire”
Cofidis professional Simon Geschke also suffered from the tacks on the street. “Our mechanics took thumbtacks out of the tires. Almost all of us had flats,” Geschke told radsport-news.com: “I had a flat, there must have been something on the street, because about 20 people had flats all at once.”
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There had already been a comparable incident on the 2012 tour. At that time, dozens of professional cyclists and some accompanying motorcycles complained about tire damage due to nails on the road on the 14th stage. On this stage, Robert Kiserlovski had to painfully experience what serious consequences the supposed prank can have. The Croatian fell badly and had to give up the tour because of a broken collarbone.
