Gallery
Trading Rides TdF79
Near the foot of the first climb of the day, the first of three, each bigger than the other, Fabio Aru (Astana) had an ill-timed flat tire. With the team car behind the chasing group over a minute behind, Aru took the bike his teammate Jakob Fuglsang had been riding. Fuglsang could afford to wait for his replacement bike. Also waiting for his team leader was Alexey Lutsenko, ready to pace Aru back up to the group containing almost all of the contenders. Each team leader will have a teammate who is close to the same size who will try to stay close by, just in case this very thing needs to happen. Bike racers come in radically different sizes, while most are small Marcel Seiberg (Lotto Soudal) is six foot six inches tall - a giant by cycling standards. I image there is no one on his team who can swap bikes with him.