juvela

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https://sports.yahoo.com/spectator-w...144044625.html


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Reynolds 

Waiting for the "Allez opi omi" memes...

Reynolds 

First one:

rando_couche

Latest news: TdF organizers are pursuing legal action, and the spectator is in hiding.

canklecat

Fans are the best/worst thing about the grand tours.

I kinda miss the 1960s-'70s era of 50 year old, 50 lbs overweight guys like Francois and Salvatore wearing sport coats, running uphill at the same speed as the cyclists who were slowly grinding big gears. If polka dot jerseys were awarded to spectators for longest running sprint alongside the racers, a lot of middle aged men would be ecstatic.

I wouldn't miss the jerkoffs who crowd the narrow lanes, waving their hands, signs and giant foam doodads in front of the cyclists' faces, putting them at constant risk. It sucks when the "fans" become the show, instead of the racers.

The grand tours should have marshals patrolling the climbs and hosing down the worst, most obtrusive interfering fans by using pepper spray gel in their stupid faces.

verktyg 

I think the person is a she and rumor has it that they already high tailed it on a plane back to Germany. They will have to live with the memory of their stupidly for the rest of their stupid lives.

It was an horrendous crash!

Watching brought back memories of the Frenchman who punched Eddy Merckx in the 1975 TdF ending his chance for a 6th win!!!

verktyg

bikemike73 

HORRIBLE CRASH !!!!!!

Cannot fix stupid

I hope they find the idiot who caused this and jail her for a long while !!!!

Bald Paul

If she's ever identified, I'm buying her a ticket to the Daytona 500. She can hold a sign up on the main straight, right in the middle, as the pack approaches.

iab

While certainly not excusing the stupidity of the fan, where is the outrage for the stupidity of the rider who caused the second crash?

Fans in/on the road with signs/flags/pitchforks/foam hands/yellow smoke/whatever is accepted behavior. That accepted behavior has risks. Riding in a peloton also has risks. I don't ever need to see a crash, makes me cringe in the safety of my sofa. But **** happening because of a fan or a rider has been happening since 1903. If you are going to sue someone for stupidity, fans and riders should be fair game.

Or, if the risk is unacceptable, the tour organization should do something. It is their responsibility to police their event. They need to reign in the culture of ******* fans.

SurferRosa

I guess Germans terrorizing the French is both classic and vintage.

rhm

Rumor says she went back to Germany? Does Rumor explain why her sign was in French?

IF fans are allowed to hold up stupid signs (regardless of language), and get this close to the route, and they have done this before, then the problem is not with the fans, it is with the organizers.

nlerner

I blame the sign.

grizzly59

April 30, 1993- Monica Seles attacked on the court by some loser with a 9" knife. Just a matter of time before some nut has a gripe or wants attention at the TDF..

h_curtis

Ah just a woman spectator trying to get her day in the lights. Seems she got it. Not the brightest bulb, but maybe she got what she wanted.

gthomson

I know tradition is tradition but still wonder why they don't set guidelines on how close fans can get to professional athletes riding in the TDF. These things are usually (I know there are exceptions) under secure parameters in professional N. American sporting events.

Here's what the people had to say about the person who caused the crash (hope this is allowed)

Velikus

Sorry, couldn't help myself...
(pic taken off the internet)

SurferRosa

We saw it at the PGA championship just a couple weeks ago when some creep attempted to grab Phil Mickelson's golf club right out of his hand after an approach to the last green as the crowd engulfed him.

jackbombay

A racer accidentally causing a crash is in no way similar to a spectator accidentally causing a crash.

A racer crashing is something that all of the riders know is a possibility, but a "fan" taking out most of the peloton is not something that should be considered acceptable in any way.

I can't imagine how mentally exhausting it would be to have to constantly scan the sides of the route for all the things/people that could possibly ruin your day, or kill you, there needs to be zero tolerance for stuff like this, because it is very specifically, easily, avoidable.

tiger1964 

I presume there's already, on some website where it's permitted, of her in front of a certain building on a day this past January.

satbuilder 

You can run but you can’t hide. Somebody out there knows this person.

gearbasher

This reminds me of Steve Bartman and the Cubs.

thinktubes 

rustystrings61 

I'm wondering if this person, when named, will become the next Nathan Fabian ... and it is a pity that so many of those pix are no longer in the thread!

Fortunately, many of those images made it to this collection. Go ahead, enjoy. This will probably be the rest of your day ...

iab

I watched 80 hours of the 2021 Giro, not a single rider caused a crash ilke stage 1. Hundreds if not thousands of hours riding in a peloton without incident. That crash is not a normal occurance. The road was wide, straight as an arrow, dry, free of any obstruction. The rider that went down was not paying attention, probably touched wheels and in a split second, you got carnage at 40mph.

Fans have always been on the road, a part of the race, always. They are a hazard the organizers minimally marshal. Thinking they could not cause a crash is delusional. It has happened before, but certainly less common than a rider causing a crash.

In both cases the rider and the fan did not intentionally cause the crash. In both cases they were not paying attention. Both are responsible for the crashes they caused. Both are an integral part of the race. Yet people want to ruin the life of one over the other.

Reynolds 

Ruin her life? No. But I think she deserves a civil suit.