Several riders in the Tour de France have complained of suffering punctures at the same point of today's stage 2 of the race as a result of thumb tacks being left in the road. The riders punctured with about 45km to go, not long before the final climb of the day was about to start.
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Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Rickaert Jonas (Alpecin-Deceuninck) both showed off the damage done to their bikes after the stage while riders like Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Luke Durbridge (Team Jayco-AlUla) also reported suffering punctures, due to thumb tacks, in the same area.
Some reports suggest as many as 20 riders suffered immediate or slow punctures in the stretch of course as they approached the decisive Jaizkibel climb.
“Thank you for this kind of human bullshit ,” wrote Calmejane on her Twitter account. "I don't think I was the only victim of a puncture in the final. Know that we can fall and hurt ourselves very badly with your bullshit, you bunch of morons."
It was not clear of the tacks were left in the road as some kind of idiotic prank or by someone protesting at the race's presence on the roads between Vitoria-Gasteiz and San Sébastián. However, the Basque opening weekend of racing was regarded as a major success, with plenty of very aggressive racing, huge numbers of fans by the roadside and fewer crashes than often seen during the first stages of the Tour.
