"Do not add danger to danger"

Less than an hour after leaving Carcbadonne, the race was interrupted for a few minutes because of a farmers' demonstration. What is your reaction?

Above all, I would like to say how dangerous the cyclist's job is, we saw it with the fall, which could have been terrible and dramatic, of Philippe Gilbert. We must not add danger to the danger, we must leave the field of expression of cyclists to runners. We do not have our stadium, our closed enclosures, where we can quietly compete. It is necessary to respect the runners, from the first to the last, the Yellow Jersey, the others, the foreigners, the French and leave the ground of free expression. Runners of the Tour do a very hard job, often vilified, and they often deserve respect. You have to let them express themselves on the road. There may be claims, legitimate or not, it is not for me to judge, but we do not block a route of the Tour de France.

Have you ever had such an experience?

Fortunately, this is something extremely rare, it had not happened since 2004 in Isère. In 2008, we had been in the chat of a needle, but we had pbaded. For ten years, there had never been that kind of worry. Let the runners express themselves, let's respect them all.

The stage was also marked by the fall of Philippe Gilbert. Have you been afraid?

Yes, she was very, very scared. He's doing very well. That's why I say it and repeat it: these runners are athletes of very, very high level, people of high quality, most often vilified. Do not add danger to danger. In addition, on the stage of Portet-d'Aspet, I had just put the sheaf, as every year we pbad on this pbad, on the stele dedicated to Fabio Casartelli (died in the descent in 1995) and his family . We must not add danger to the danger, we must respect the riders, all riders, whoever they are, whatever their country, whatever their cycling value.