Cyclists criticize the route: “The Tour de France is not an action film”

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Simon Geschke

Photo: Arne Dedert / dpa

The two German professional cyclists Max Walscheid and Simon Geschke were critical of the route planning for the first week of the 109th Tour de France.

"I have to honestly say that I have no problem saying that it also scares you," said Walscheid in a video ("Your Tour") of the ARD sports show with a view of July 1 in Denmark's capital Copenhagen Beginning Tour of France.

“I'm not looking forward to the first week at all.

What I really complain about is that the organization knows that the first week is super nervous and the drivers really fight for every centimeter," said Walscheid's teammate Geschke from the Cofidis racing team.

“It's hoped it'll be a spectacle.

But there is definitely risk involved and it makes it super dangerous for us.

The Tour de France just isn't an action film,« added the 2015 Tour stage winner. Deliberately built small and narrow streets, wind edge sections and cobblestones were named by Geschke as possible sources of danger for falls.

Walscheid seriously injured in March

The first three stages of the 2022 Tour of France will take place in Denmark.

After that, the race will continue in the north of France.

The fifth stage leads, among other things, over the dreaded cobblestone passages and ends at the entrance to the Arenberg forest.

Walscheid collided head-on with a car during a training round in his home near Neuwied in March and was then taken to a clinic by helicopter.

He suffered various bruises in the accident.

A week later, doctors also diagnosed pulmonary hemorrhage and accumulation of air in the space between the lungs and the chest wall.

»Of course, these are very, very bad experiences that you still have to come to terms with.

In the end, this danger is always with us,” said Walscheid.

cev/dpa