Shropshire Star

This Tour de France cyclist’s veiny legs will almost certainly make you wince

Proving once again how brutal the Tour is.

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Anyone who’s ever paid the slightest bit of attention to the Tour de France will knows its rigours and the impact it can have on the riders – but, just in case, Pawel Poljanski has you covered.

The Bora–Hansgrohe rider completed the Tour’s 16th stage on Tuesday, between Le Puy-en-Velay and Romans-sur-Isere, and prompted some concern with an Instagram post.

Here’s what the 27-year-old’s legs looked like at the end of the day.

Bartosz Huzarski, who got a lot of stick after posting a picture of his legs during the 2014 Tour, said at the time: “Of course I will not have legs like Victoria’s Secret models, or Mary from the nearby vegetable shop, or anyone working in an office who does a 10km bike ride or an hour run three times a week.”

Poljanski finished 66th in the 16th stage and is 75th in the general classification heading into stage 17, and he’s clearly worked very hard for that position.

But many of those commenting on Instagram were still worried for his health, with one imploring him to “please stop what you’re doing”.

Team Sky’s Chris Froome was the subject of a veiny picture in 2014, and after retaining the yellow jersey on Wednesday his legs probably still look much the same.

The three-time Tour winner currently leads this year’s event, the closest in history at this stage in the race, by 18 seconds over Italian national champion Fabio Aru, with Frenchman Romain Bardet a further five seconds back.

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