After being pulled off his bike by a spectator’s bag and breaking three teeth before the opening stage, Jan Hirt was back with his smile fixed ahead of stage 2 at the Tour de France after a trip to the emergency dentist last night.
Hirt fell onto his face before the stage start in Florence after fans bypassed barriers and flooded into the team area, where riders travel between their buses to the sign-on. Here is where the chaos unfolded, in what Soudal Quick-Step team boss Patrick Lefevere has labelled “unacceptable”.
The veteran boss was at the start of stage 2 in Cesenatico and was clearly not happy when he spoke to media about the incident, with an obviously angry tone at the race organisers ASO – from whom his team had not yet heard an apology.
“What happened is unacceptable. We have so many rules and we have to pay for everything. And then the collision happens with that stupid spectator and his backpack,” said Lefevere to Het Nieuwsblad and Sporza.
“No,” Lefevere said when asked if ASO had apologised for the incident. “But they must have read my message on X, right? I saw long faces in the hotel, but I don’t care about that. We have not had any apologies.”
Hirt was quickly whisked away after a tough day in the saddle to the Clinica Merli in Rimini, where his three chipped teeth were fixed. But it was a day of pure suffering as he was unable to fuel properly throughout the five and a half hours.
“Yesterday he couldn’t eat during the ride, not even gels. He survived the entire ride on water bottles,” Lefevere said. “I arranged for him to have surgery yesterday in a private clinic. Fortunately, in the evening he was back at the hotel with three repaired teeth.”
Hirt was in much better spirits at the start with his restored smile, crediting the dentist’s great work. While annoyed at the incident, he was happy to move on from in with a much safer start area on stage 2.
“The dentist did a great job. We went straight from the finish line and we spent two hours there last night but now today is much better,” Hirt told Cyclingnews at the team bus in Cesenatico.
“I think we can see already today that it [the safety] is much better but it’s a shame that something has to happen first before they change it. It should be better of course if they can make it from the first day.
“Of course I was unhappy, it was really annoying but life continues.”
Hirt being able to start the second stage means Remco Evenepoel’s climbing support remains at full strength. The Czech climber will be very important for the Tour debutant alongside Mikel Landa when the hardest climbs arrive.
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