cocorico, Belgian revenge and “opi-omi”

This first weekend leaves no respite for the peloton. After a first stage for strong won by Julian Alaphilippe, the second, this Sunday, June 27, is of the same ilk. Located entirely in the Côtes-d’Armor department, the route is drawn on the edges of the pink granite coast, a sumptuous landscape named so because of the pink color of its rocks.

But the runners will not have time to contemplate it since the race should be lively: 184 kilometers and six listed difficulties. Above all, the finish will be judged at the top of Brittany’s most famous coast: Mûr-de-Bretagne (2 km at 6.9%). Like Saturday, a puncher should shine in this Mecca of the Tour de France since his first appearance in 1947.

• The rider to watch: Wout Van Aert

We take the same and start again. As at La Fosse-aux-Loups, Saturday, the arrival planned at Mûr-de-Bretagne, Sunday, is reserved for puncheurs. If Julian Alaphilippe was the strongest yesterday, this time he will have a yellow jersey to defend. This could benefit Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and his very explosive profile, as he demonstrated on Milan-San Remo 2020, for example.

Saturday, stuck in the wheel of the world champion, the Belgian did not dare to react when he launched his offensive. If the legs looked good, the goal was most certainly to help leader Primoz Roglic, who ultimately finished 3^e. In Mûr-de-Bretagne, WVA has the weapons to win if it is allowed to play its card. Unless Roglic already wants to send a message to its competitors.

“Go Opi and Omi”: Opi and Omi meaning grandpa and grandma in German # TDF2021 # TourdeFrance2021 https://t.co/sk3AiZy593

– DestinationTele (@Destination Télé)

This is the image of this first step and the first controversy. A spectator at the side of the road came with a sign concocted in honor of her grandma and her grandpa (“Opi” and “omi”, in the language of Goethe). The image would have been beautiful: the sign, a hello to the camera and the peloton in the background. But the reckless did not see the runners arrive at high speed behind his back, and in particular the Jumbo runner Tony Martin.

The latter crashed into the cursed cardboard box, triggering an impressive fall throughout the peloton. Result of the races: many injuries and a retirement due to this fall, the German rider, Jasha Sütterlin. In the evening, the director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme was not mad: ” It is unacceptable ! Those who deserve TV are the champions, not that kind of person. If people want to look at each other, to see each other, there are mirrors for that! “ Mr. Prudhomme has also announced that the organizer of the Tour, ASO, had filed a complaint against this spectator. A quick hello that could get expensive.

“I rode as if there was no stage tomorrow. “

There are, however, twenty days of racing left, but Julian Alaphilippe’s Tour de France is already successful, according to him. The Frenchman entered the Grande Boucle as a boss by cutting down on all his competitors in the Fosse-aux-Loups hill. His victory rewards the efforts produced by the Deceuninck-Quick Step. “I asked my teammates to work hard and all day they believed in me. I knew it was going to hurt everyone ”, he savored after donning his yellow jersey as the leader of the general classification.

The unfortunate Cyril Lemoine is one of the four riders forced to give up on the first stage, Saturday June 26. The photo shows the violence of the fall suffered by the member of the B&B Hotels-KTM team. Bloodied, he was unable to reach the finish after the second fall that occurred 7 km from the line, like Ignatas Konovalovas (Groupama-FDJ). Jasha Sütterlin (DSM) was the first to withdraw from the Tour after the first massive fall caused by a spectator and her sign, 45 km from the finish. After the stage, the Movistar team has also announced that Marc Soler will not take the start of the second stage.