German professional cyclists Max Walscheid (29) and Simon Geschke (36) have criticised the route planning for the first week of the 109th Tour de France.
Walscheid about Tour de France start
"I have to be honest and say that I have no problem saying that it scares you too," Walscheid said in a video ("Your Tour") of the ARD sports programme with a view to the European Parliament elections starting on 1 July in Denmark's capital Copenhagen Tour de France.
"I'm not looking forward to the first week at all. What I really criticise is that the organisation knows that the first week is super nervous and the riders are really fighting for every centimetre," said Walscheid's team-mate Geschke from the Cofidis racing team.
"Risk is accepted"
"People are already hoping it will be a spectacle. But there are definitely risks involved and it makes it super dangerous for us. The Tour de France is simply not an action film," added the 2015 Tour stage winner. Geschke named deliberately small and narrow roads, windy sections and cobblestones as potential sources of danger for crashes.
The first three stages of the Tour of France 2022 will take place in Denmark. The race then continues in the north of France. The fifth stage includes the dreaded cobblestone passages and ends at the entrance to the Arenberg forest.
Walscheid collided with a car
Walscheid had collided head-on with a car during a training lap in his home town near Neuwied in March and was then taken to a hospital by helicopter. He suffered various bruises in the accident. A week later, doctors also diagnosed pulmonary haemorrhaging and an accumulation of air in the space between his lungs and chest wall.
"Of course, these are very, very bad experiences that you still have to come to terms with. At the end of the day, this danger is always there," said Walscheid.
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