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Cyclists on the last 20 kilometres of the Tour de France race had their tyres pierced by nails that have been thrown onto the track by unknown saboteurs.

It seems France chose violence all over this month.

Social media posts show several riders suffered punctures in the last stretch of the 209km ride through the Spanish Basque Country.

One of the riders, Lilian Calmejane posted a video on social media showing his bike with five nails puncturing in the front tyre.

The rider was obviously not happy, and didn’t hold back in his post, calling the perpetrators ‘morons’.

‘Thank you for this kind of human bulls**t…” he tweeted. “I don’t think I was the only victim of a puncture in the end… know that you can fall and get really hurt with your bulls**t you morons.”

Race organiser ASO is investigating the incident and confirmed that 15-20 riders were affected. Several of the major teams have raised the alarm over the incidents.

Merci pour ce genre de connerie humaine … je pense ne pas avoir été le seul victime de crevaison dans le final … sachez qu’on peut tomber et se faire très mal avec vos conneries bande d’abrutis … 🤬 pic.twitter.com/IoTMolFKgO

— Lilian Calmejane (@L_Calmejane) July 2, 2023

In 2012, dozens of riders and some race motorbikes also suffered punctures during the 14th stage after nails had been thrown onto the road.

The Tour de France is an annual men’s multiple-stage bicycle race held in France. The race is made up of 21 stages over 23 days and coincides with Bastille Day. It is the oldest of the three Grand Tours and is generally considered the most prestigious.

Sunday’s second stage was won by Frenchman Victor Lafay of Team Cofidis. The 2023 Tour de France is the 110th edition of the race and started in Bilbao, Spain, on 1 July, and will end with the final stage at Champs-Élysées, Paris, on 23 July.

Hopefully, this incident will not be a recurring worry for cyclists and organisers. We have to agree though, it takes a special kind of moron to do something this dangerous.

[source:independent]