Excitement at the Tour de France: before the final climb of the second stage, unknown persons had apparently distributed drawing pins on the road. Numerous professional cyclists had to change their bikes around 20 kilometres before the finish due to punctures.
As the portal "cyclingnews.com" reported, the incident was known to the organiser Aso, who had no further information.
French professional cyclist Lilian Calmejane posted a video on Twitter showing five drawing pins in his front tyre. "Thank you for this human nonsense," he wrote. He does not believe that he was the only victim in the end. Tom Pidcock also complained about tyre pressure loss. "I had a slow puncture and could feel it on the descent from Jaizkibel, but I had to run it in. I could feel it slipping a bit in the corners," Pidcock told "Cyclingnews" and the TV channel ITV.
In addition, Groupama sports director Philippe Mauduit also reported that some of his riders suffered tyre damage due to the pins. Two riders from the Lotto team were also affected. There had already been a similar incident at the Tour in 2012. Back then, dozens of professional cyclists and some accompanying motorbikes complained of tyre damage due to nails on the road on stage 14.
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