Tour de France riders including race leader Chris Froome sent messages of support to the victims of the deadly attack in Nice.
Defending champion Froome posted a picture of the blue, white and red French flag on Twitter on Friday and wrote: “Thoughts are with those affected by the horrific terror attack in Nice.”
France is reeling again after a large truck mowed through a crowd of revelers gathered for a Bastille Day fireworks display in the Riviera city of Nice, killing at least 80 on Thursday night. The attack, on France’s national holiday, followed attacks last November in Paris that killed 130.
Froome was scheduled to compete in the race’s first time trial later Friday. Organizers have yet to decide whether the hilly 37.5-kilometer (23-mile) leg from Bourg-Saint-Andeol to La Caverne du Pont-D’Arc in the Ardeche region will go ahead as planned.
Tour de France organizers did not respond to messages left by The Associated Press seeking comment.
Security had already been reinforced at the Tour this year, with France in a state of emergency since the Paris attacks. The three-week race is protected by an unprecedented force of 23,000 police officers, including SWAT-like intervention squads, while security guards perform bag checks and pat downs at the start and finish of every stage.
Bauke Mollema, who was involved in a crash with Froome inside the last kilometer of Thursday’s Stage 12 at Mont Ventoux when a TV motorbike was forced to stop on the road because of fans congestion, said his “thoughts are with the people in Nice.”
Froome was awarded the same time as Mollema after he was forced to wait for a replacement bike following the incident, a decision that left Mollema unhappy. But the Dutch rider put his rivalry with Froome aside.
“I couldn’t sleep yet and now read about something more important than the Tour,” Mollema wrote on Twitter. ” … crazy world.”
French climber Romain Bardet also expressed sadness over the attack.
“Being French, gathering, celebrating, loving each other,” he posted on social media. “And never giving up. I’m thinking about Nice.”
From Agencies, Feature image courtesy: AP
