The 2023 Tour de France trend seems to be nails and tacks… and therefore punctures for riders. “Thank you for this kind of human bullshit… Know that you can fall and hurt yourself very badly with your bullshit, bunch of idiots”, had railed the Intermarché-Circus runner Lilian Calmejane on Sunday. According to Cédric Vasseur, the phenomenon occurred again on Monday between Amorebieta-Etxano and Bayonne. At the end of this third stage of the Grande Boucle won in a sprint by Jasper Philipsen, the manager of the Cofidis team pointed out the malicious spectators on the side of the roads.
“Obviously there are nails or tacks lying around on the road, he explained to the microphone of RMC Sports. As long as it has no impact on the running of the race, it’s not a problem. It is understandable that some people are unhappy. Personally, I wouldn’t do that sort of thing, but you have to let people express themselves. »
“The organization of the Tour de France cleans the road”
While seven of the eight Cofidis riders had punctured on Sunday, a similar mishap happened to Alexey Lutsenko and Tadej Pogacar on Monday, without causing any damage to the general classification. However, the race management is doing its best to stop this “clougate”, according to Cédric Vasseur.
“The organization of the Tour de France cleans the road about fifteen or thirty minutes before the passage of the runners, indicates the director of Cofidis. This means that there are smart guys who throw flints, nails or thumbtacks right after. We hope that this is part of the past and that we will have stages that will take place normally. “It’s all the harm we wish the peloton, this Tuesday, for the 181 kilometers between Dax and Nogaro, in a stage a priori still intended for sprinters.