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news
Screenshot 2021-06-26 at 15.25.40Spectator holding sign causes huge crash bringing peloton to a halt at Tour de France
A huge crash has happened at the front of the peloton in the Tour de France, caused by a member of the public standing in the road holding a cardboard sign.
"Leaders down, downed riders everywhere and this is chaos. This is exactly what we didn't want on the opening day of the Tour," said Rob Hatch, commentating.
A fan just caused a MASSIVE crash at the very beginning of the Tour De France 😬 pic.twitter.com/6q5TwQRBdU
— Blake Harms (@wxblakeharms) June 26, 2021
The crash happened with just 45 km to go and Jumbo-Visma's Tony Martin went down hard right at the front of the bunch after colliding with the spectator and took out most of his team, along with a large proportion of the peloton.
Once again, spectators, destroying months of hard work. We love the fans but not the ones who put up signs in the front of the peloton and don't realise the consequences of their actions. Hope the guys are OK #TDF2021
— Daryl Impey (@darylimpey) June 26, 2021
Martin had no time to avoid the spectator – who wasn’t looking at the bunch and was instead grinning at the TV cameras while holding a sign over the road.
Jasha Sütterlin (Team DSM), who was caught up in the crash, has now abandoned.
Following the crash, teams have been appealing to fans on social media to stay back from the riders.
🇫🇷 #TDF2021
Our beautiful sport is completely unique and extra special in how accessible we are to the fans.
If we could please remind all spectators along the roads to stand back, at a safe distance, as the race passes by.
— Team Qhubeka NextHash (@QhubekaAssos) June 26, 2021
Latest Comments
- Blackthorne 4 sec ago
Would be cool if he rode his last race on a rim brake bike.
- Matthew Acton-Varian 6 min 39 sec ago
Pushing the technical boundaries I can live with - it is a competitive sport after all. If you permanently banned everyone in F1 for repeat...
- bensynnock 34 min 41 sec ago
There also seems a constant requirement for public consultation about every change to three roads, but I don't remember there being any...
- Bigtwin 34 min 40 sec ago
It's sad to see the likes of Milla under threat of disappearance, but the bike indrustry needs to sort itself out. Selling bikes that cost more...
- bensynnock 38 min 22 sec ago
Sure, but if the section in the picture is always flooded then it's effectively unusable.
- lerrup 3 hours 10 min ago
This is correct, if we're going to invest in the criminal justice system we should do so on catching people and processing them through the system...
- Surreyrider 3 hours 15 min ago
I think the frames are open mould so there will be others exactly like it around the world decked out as another brand. I saw a few comments on...
- Sriracha 3 hours 30 min ago
Will the CPS/Courts follow through, one wonders?
- Surreyrider 4 hours 34 min ago
Beware though, the new Defy models are more aggressive than previously. Getting quite close to the TCR now....
Add new comment
14 comments
Next time get a bell on your bike or...
Complete imbecile deserves another reminder to wipe the grin off his face
He was a her. I know it's difficult these days with self-identification and everything ... but I'm pretty sure it was a female spectator...
It seems that you can't mix spectators and professional high speed sports together. And thats presuming everyone is sober! There is a reason why in other sports there is some kind of barrier. Be it physical or a space. Unless comparing to rally car spectators who must truly be on a death wish !
No way you can barrier both sides of a 200kms route though, or not without bankrupting the race - and that numpty would probably have leaned over the barrier anyway. Plus riders who currently run harmlessly onto verges after bumps or misjudgements would be bouncing back into the peleton.
Look at the Policeman in the barriered final sprint at 94 so barriers won't stop numpty behaviour. Part of the problem is people don't realise the professionals are travelling at around 30mph when not climbing (and closer to 50 when sprinting) so misjudge waht they can do in the time they actually have.
I trust the teams will at least be able to recover the cost of damage to bikes, clothing and other equipment from the absolute fucktard responsible.
Ffs, what were they thinking?
This need to have ones 15 seconds on the tellybox amazes me. Anyway they were holding up a sign wishing Granny a Happy Birthday, or summat.
Hope granny is happy with the carnage she has caused
Go Opi-Omi!. Who or what Opi-Omi is though is anyone's guess.
Opa/Oma are German for grandfather/mother. Presumably Opi would be grandad and Omi would be granny, or something like that.
In Flemish and Dutch as well.
It was the later crash that did the real damage to the placings
I hope someone has given them a dig for that. What an absolute twunt.
Hopefully the cancel-cunts will find out who they are and expose them.
Wanker.