Clients in the famous Café des 2 Moulins in central Paris on Saturday had a closer encounter with one member of the Olympic Games Men’s Road Race peloton than they might have realistically expected when participant Nils Politt took an emergency mid-race toilet break in the establishment’s facilities.
Suffering from stomach issues, as the German rider later told reporters, Politt dived into the café in the closing kilometres of the race, won by Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel.
The café became a tourist destination after it featured in several scenes in the 2001 cult movie Amélie.
Politt, though, had other priorities than sightseeing on his mind when he quickly entered the café on Paris’ Rue Lepic at the bottom of the Butte Montmartre ascent on Saturday afternoon, weaving his way through a large number of customers in search of a lavatory.
His emergency mission successfully accomplished, and cheered on by the clients and the massive crowds as he subsequently exited the café, Politt then jumped back over the barriers, remounted his bike and continued racing. He completed the course, finishing nearly 20 minutes down on Evenepoel.
"I did not count how much time it took me," Politt later told reporters.
"It was really warm, we were drinking a lot of water, ate a lot of gels and normally I don't have problems. But today I had an upset stomach."
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