The second stage of the Tour de France, a mountain stage that climbs a lot, takes place on Sunday in Nice after a first round on Saturday, largely played in the rain and marked by numerous falls. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot was no exception, 2.9 kilometers from the finish. For the cycling consultant of Europe 1, Richard Virenque, after the falls, these 186 kilometers with several passes and climbs will "bring down the masks".
"His opponents are not going to give him a gift"
"Yesterday, Thibaut Pinot fell 2 km 900 from the finish. He had the bad luck to fall, but the chance to fall after the 3 km so he is at the same time" as the others, explains the former cyclist . "Unfortunately after a fall, we have after-effects: will he recover? That's the big question. His opponents are not going to give him a gift. Thibaut Pinot came to win the Tour, c he is a formidable opponent. So inevitably, there will be attacks, it will go in all directions! ", predicts Richard Virenque.
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"The masks will fall"
This second stage, which starts from Nice and will arrive in Nice, will pass, among other places, via the Colmiane and Turini passes. "The masks will fall: who will win the Tour, we don't know yet, but who will lose it, we will know," he concludes.
Thibaut Pinot, who fell 3 kilometers from the finish of the first stage on Saturday, said he had "hurt all over but nothing broken" on Sunday at the start of the second stage in Nice. The falls of the first stage have already cost three men the Tour de France: the former Belgian world champion Philippe Gilbert, with a fractured left kneecap, the former Paris-Roubaix winner, John Degenkolb, arrived late after to have been thrown to the ground, and the Spaniard Rafael Valls, with the broken right femur.