Zaskar

... for reminding me that Americans are not the only obnoxious, and likely not the worst, fans in sports.



Vincenzo Nibali is out. He won't place blame. But it was obviously caused by the fans. The obnoxious, selfish fans who crowded the road (as they do in every mountain stage), lit off colored smoke bombs, flew flags on long flexy poles, ran in front of and beside the riders... The visibility and chaos were so bad, Nibali doesn't actually know how he crashed. He thinks (or is too gracious to blame a fan) that he hit a motorcycle. But a fan video shows him 2' from a motorcycle while hitting a fan.

I really wish the directors could find a balance - fans cheering, but give the guys room to ride (and smoke-free air to breath!).

Colnago Mixte

Make the fans all wear helmets.

/ Thread

CerveloJoe

It is unfortunate, because without the fans, the race would be nothing. Some of the fans now are interfering without the intent of doing so. Some appear to be interfering intentionally. For the ones who don't intend malice, they still need to realize that cheering on the riders can and does create interference and accidents at times. This is unfair to the riders even though it isn't intentional. I honestly don't understand how fans with good intentions, who run in front of or beside the riders, screaming in their ears isn't at least annoying to most of the riders. Especially considering the duress they are under. And then you have the slightly overzealous fans who drop their national flag in the face of the riders, not to mention the smoke screen created by the flairs. The Nibali incident is yet another example. He was really having a good tour as well. Very unfortunate. This type of presumed innocent fan behavior will eventually create tighter restrictions and the policing of those individuals imo.

Zaskar

Just watched Stage 13 and they talked about/analyzed Nibali's crash - looks like his right shifter/hood snagged a fan's camera strap (how the #$&@ a fan can be that stupid is beyond me) and went down. Nibali probably didn't see the fan... through the smoke. Or, his eyes were closed/watering... because of the smoke.

colombo357

Any fan setting off smoke bombs / road flares should be shot.

Caretaker

Spoken like a true Murican.

CliffordK

So, it was photographer trying to get the perfect shot that caused the crash?

This couldn't have been that bad. I think there have been photographers that took down the whole peloton.

Flip Flop Rider

the only thing missing is to see the fans brawling like in some other events

Marcus_Ti

Those worst offenders aren't "fans" they're drunk party-ers.

Homebrew01

Motorcycle passengers use cattle prods on spectators ?

jon c. 

Would a guillotine be more culturally appropriate?

Zaskar

I was thinking snow plows, but okay. ;-)

Homebrew01

Snow plows with cattle prods attached !

dstrong