House broken into, car stolen, time trial crash - Tour de France rider's day to forget

Next time you think you’re having a bad day, spare a thought for what Lotto-Belisol’s Tony Gallopin went through yesterday.

The opening day of the Tour de France in Düsseldorf had already got off to the worst of starts for the French rider when he learnt that his house had been broken into and his car stolen.

Then, the 29-year-old was among the riders who crashed on rain-soaked roads during the opening time trial, won by Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas.

1ere journée sur @LeTour :
Commencé a 5h30 avec cambriolage maison + vol voiture!!
Finit sur chute vers 18h...
A oublier... https://t.co/1ow1AOVvpi

— Gallopin Tony (@tonygallopin) July 1, 2017

Unlike Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde and Jon Izagirre of Bahrain Merida, whose crashes yesterday ended their races before they had barely begun, Gallopin took to the start of today’s Stage 2 to Liege.

But he did so with a heavily strapped foot and ankle which will make for some agonising pedalling over the next few days, with the swelling in his foot clearly shown in this picture he tweeted yesterday.

“Today’s problem,” he wrote, “getting my foot in my shoe,” adding his thanks to the team staff for their treatment.

Problème du jour : rentrer le pied dans la chaussure... Staff au top! Merci pour le soutien et les messages. #etape2 @LeTour pic.twitter.com/6dIY90GRHA

— Gallopin Tony (@tonygallopin) July 2, 2017

Gallopin’s wife, Marion Rousse, is also working on the Tour de France – having retired from the Lotto-Soudal Ladies team, she is now a pundit with France TV.

Back in 2014, before they were married, the pair featured in an animation which showed them making a date in Paris at the end of that year’s Tour de France, where Gallopin had spent a day in the yellow jersey as race leader and with Rousse riding in the women’s race in the French capital the day the Tour finished.

> Video: TdF leader Tony Gallopin and girlfriend Marion Rousse have a date in Paris