Riders react to an eventful first few days of the Tour de France
Cyclists and fans have opinions
Photo by:
Primož Roglič/Instagram
We’re four stages into an extremely eventful Tour de France 2021. The riders and fans have taken to social media to share their thoughts on what has happened so far.
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Saturday (Stage 1) – Unnecessary crashes: the fans edition
The long-awaited return of fans to cycling is off to a rocky start. While it’s thrilling to see a course lined with fans again, one fan spoiled the fun for everyone.
I hope Omi & Opi are proud of you..
On a serious note though; great to see still many spectators are loving our sport and cheering for us, but please, stay on the side of the road, not on the road! pic.twitter.com/0sU4yKR3nk
— Jasper Stuyven (@Jasperstuyven) June 26, 2021
Once again, spectators, destroying months of hard work. We love the fans but not the ones who put up signs in the front of the peloton and don't realise the consequences of their actions. Hope the guys are OK #TDF2021
— Daryl Impey (@darylimpey) June 26, 2021
When I was still excited ? not the best day for us, but it could have been a lot worse as well.
I enjoyed my first day in ?? untill the big crash. Let’s hope everybody heals up and can continue the race ??
To the fans: we love you but please be more careful! https://t.co/IfzM1Be20G— Wout van Aert (@WoutvanAert) June 26, 2021
Geraint Thomas, who managed to get out unscathed, was able to find a positive clip of the shocking incident.
The real star of the show today, nice work mum ? https://t.co/WYFOonnK9V
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) June 26, 2021
Sunday (Stage 2) – The unfiltered joy of Mathieu van der Poel
This is far from Mathieu van der Poel’s first podium. But it is the most excited we’ve ever seen him – or anyone else, for that matter – to be on a podium. Van der Poel’s joy at winning, and emotional finish line tribute to his iconic grandfather Raymond Poulidor, made us fall in love with racing again.
— dré broeken (@drebroeken) June 27, 2021
I'm not crying, you're crying. pic.twitter.com/h9Rj6s3Hif
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) June 27, 2021
Monday (Stage 3) – Big crashes
Afrer the chaos of the Stage 1 crash, it seemed like things had calmed down a bit by Stage 2. The third stage was anything but calm, and filled with high-speed wipeouts that took Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma), Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) and Caleb Ewan(Lotto-Soudal) out of the race.
J’ai regardé le replay du final d’aujourd’hui et franchement tout le monde avaient des chaussettes à la bonne hauteur donc tout va bien ??♂️
— Julien Bernard (@JulienBernard17) June 28, 2021
“I watched the replay of the final (kilometers) and everyone had their socks at the right height, so everything’s going well,” said Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) sarcastically, refrencing the UCI’s sock height rules.
Tim Declercq (Deceuninck–Quick-Step) said that, after looking at the course, riders asked the jury to take the time for the stage at 8km to go, and received no response. After the many crashes, Marc Madiot, directeur sportif of Groupama–FDJ, said: “This isn’t cycling anymore. We cannot continue like this. If we don’t change anything, there will be deaths”
Funny how the Supertuck and forearm positions got banned for „safety reasons“ while at the same time we have finishes like today in #letour
— Simon Geschke (@simongeschke) June 28, 2021
Whoever designed today’s stage @LeTour should try to ride with 180 riders on a twisty 5m wide road next to each other and pushing Wachbootes to the limits. Of course we riders make the race at the end but the riders also ask for an earlier time taking 5 km to go which was refused
— Andre Greipel (@AndreGreipel) June 28, 2021
The events of today are not incidents. There is something wrong with the choice of parcours and signing it off. Thinking more rules is the answer to greater safety is false. Common sense is. Racing has become faster, don’t use it as an excuse but as reason for better safety!
— TheRidersUnion (@TheRidersUnion) June 28, 2021
To protest the organizers not agreeing to extend the buffer zone on the final 3km of the last stage to 8km, the riders of stage 4 chose to stop just after kilometre 0 (once the race had cleared the neutral section) and rode the first 10 km of the 150 km stage easy.
Tuesday (Stage 4) – Flat and calm(?)
Before the stage Primož Roglič (Jumbo–Visma) posted a photo of himself “mummified” with bandages.
Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck – Quick-Step), who had 30 stage wins going into Stage 4, said that he will not be going for Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 stage wins at the Tour de France 2021, posting a meme before the beginning of the Tour.
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) June 24, 2021
Though fans of the Manx cyclist are getting excited as he won his 31st stage.
