Tour de France Stage 1: Reaction

A chaotic opening stage of the 2020 Tour de France that featured numerous crashes was won by Alexander Kristoff (UAE) in a sprint finish in Nice.

NTT Pro Cycling’s (http://www.NTTProCycling.com) Giacomo Nizzolo finished seventh on a day that saw Ryan Gibbons, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Domenico Pozzovivo all involved in crashes. All three were seen to by team doctor Piet de Moor and will be followed up on in the morning.

Ryan Gibbons

I came into the race nursing a broken rib on my left side and today I went down on my left side again – of course – typical and on the same spot so at the moment I’m in quite a bit of pain. I was able to get back on and caught the peloton somehow and did a bit of work but I’m feeling it now.

He (the doctor) has checked me about but we’ve got a few other patients as well. At the moment he’s stitching up Pozzovivo so he’ll check my shoulder a bit late. Nothing you can really do for a broken rib but just tolerate the pain.

The first stage of a Grand Tour is always going to be nervous especially at the Tour de France. This season we’ve seen a lot more crashes since the restart, I think riders are just taking more risks. I think today on top of a treacherous course, with the rain it was just a nightmare. A lot of oil on the road, very very dangerous. I’m very, very happy to see that the riders came together and made a unanimous decision to take the last descent relatively easy but yes still very treacherous, a challenging stage.

Legs are great and I think that showed today, it’s the one positive. We saw Giacomo boxed in at the end but flying so we’ve got a lot of faith in him and we’ve got no doubt he’s going to pull off a result. We’ve got 20 stages to go so a lot of chances.

Giacomo Nizzolo

It was a stressful day with the rain and many, many crashes. In the end I could manage to get back to the bunch and I actually felt great in the sprint.

It’s a pity I couldn’t sprint actually, to find a place (position) to deliver to the power that I felt but sometimes in a sprint it is a lottery so I’m super happy about how Im feeling, not about the result but ‘we have more stages to come.

Max Walscheid

I’ve never see so many crashes in one day. It was pretty crazy, I also didn’t have the best of luck but I stayed on my bike, I was caught up several times by a crash but I could always come back and I was actually pretty happy with my legs.

Unfortunately with 20km to go I punctured but I still came back, the guys waited at the back of the bunch for me and I wanted to support Giacomo in the sprint but I was caught up behind a crash again but the bottom line is that I stayed on my bike, and I hope that everyone else in the team is okay.

Please visit the following link for the downloadable audio of the 3 riders for use, here (https://bit.ly/31Ifjoh).

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of NTT Pro Cycling.

Media Contact: 
Jean Smyth (Head of Communications)
Email: jean@ryder.co.za
Mobile: +27 63 4701 1710 or +31 625 739 033

About NTT Pro Cycling:
Founded in 2007, NTT Pro Cycling (formerly Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka) (http://www.NTTProCycling.com) became the first-ever African cycling team to gain a WorldTour license, in 2016. With the support of our headline sponsor and technology innovation partner, NTT, we are the most purpose-driven, performance-led, and technology-enabled team in pro cycling today. 

Our ambition is to continue to race at the highest levels in world cycling, to develop riders to realise their full potential and to inspire and motivate people across the African continent to ride bicycles.

We have bases in South Africa, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy. 

We also ride to raise awareness for Qhubeka, a global charity operating in South Africa, through our #BicyclesChangeLives campaign. 

The hands on the back of the team race jersey are a reminder that every Qhubeka bicycle is a helping hand up to a beneficiary, which are provided through Qhubeka's learn-to-earn and work-to-earn programmes. 

About Qhubeka:
Qhubeka (https://Qhubeka.org/) is a charity that moves people forward with bicycles. People earn bicycles through our programmes, improving their access to schools, clinics and jobs.

A bicycle is a tool that helps people to travel faster and further, and to carry more. In the face of extreme and persistent poverty, bicycles can change lives by helping to address socioeconomic challenges at the most basic level – helping people to get where they need to go. 

About NTT Ltd.:
NTT Ltd. (https://hello.global.NTT/) is a global technology services company bringing together the expertise of leaders in the field, including NTT Communications, Dimension Data and NTT Security. We partner with organizations around the world to shape and achieve outcomes through intelligent technology solutions. For us, intelligent means data driven, connected, digital and secure. As a global ICT provider, we employ more than 40,000 people in a diverse and dynamic workplace and deliver services in over 200 countries and regions. Together we enable the connected future.

Visit us at our new website https://hello.global.NTT/

All images attached to the press release can be used with the respective image credit in combination to this release.