Tour de France 2023: 'You morons' – Tacks thrown in road cause puncture chaos on Stage 2
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Updated 02/07/2023 at 19:13 GMT
Intermarche-Circus-Wanty rider Lilian Calmejane hit out at "morons" after thumbtacks thrown on the road caused a number of punctures on Stage 2 at the Tour de France. Calmejane posted a video on social media showing five tacks in his front wheel, with a number of other teams and riders revealing they had been affected. The stage was taking place in the cycling-mad Basque region of northern Spain.
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The Tour de France was hit by a spate of punctures on Stage 2 after thumbtacks were thrown in the road.
Jumbo-Visma coach Grischa Niermann confirmed to Eurosport that tacks were found on the race route near the start of the Alto de Jaizkibel climb, about 36km from the finish in San Sebastian.
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) was among the riders affected, with the Dane forced to hop on a replacement bike at the foot of the final climb, while Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) finished fourth despite riding to the line with a slow puncture.
Lilian Calmejane (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) released a video on social media showing five tacks wedged in his front wheel.
"Thank you for this kind of human bull****," fumed Calmejane on Twitter.
"I don't think I was the only victim of a puncture in the end… know that you can fall and get really hurt with your bull**** you morons."
Jayco-AlUla were among the teams hit by punctures although leader Simon Yates avoided incident.
"Someone sprayed some tacks on the road in one of the towns because we saw 15-20 punctures," said the team's head of performance Matt White.
"Some punctured immediately and some rode through with a slow leak. It’s a shame. We’re lucky that Simon Yates didn’t puncture, but there were a lot of guys puncturing at an important time in the race."
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