Drunk Tour de France spectator who threw bag of crisps at Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard arrested for aggravated assault, with riders’ union set to take legal action “with pleasure”

As the knife was twisted further in the battle for the yellow jersey on stage 14’s final climb of Pla d’Adet, broadcast cameras caught the footage of a spectator shoving a bag of crisps in the faces of the two main protagonists of the 2024 Tour de France, UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar and Visma-Lease a Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard. It’s now been reported that the man has been taken in custody by the French police on grounds of aggravated assault.

The incident happened with just two kilometres left as the race ventured into the high mountains of the Pyrenees yesterday. Pogačar, after a brilliant decoy attack by his teammate Adam Yates, launched one of his trademark bursts with five kilometres to go, catching the duo of Yates and EF Education-Easy Post’s Ben Healy, before quickly leaving them behind.

Jonas Vingegaard, the defending champion from Denmark along with Soudal-Quick Step’s Remco Evenepoel, managed to stay close to Pogačar’s consecutive accelerations initially. But soon, two became one as Evenepoel was also dropped, and it was only Vingegaard, who like the persistent shadow he’s been throughout this Tour so far, kept tailing Pogačar with a few seconds' gap.

And while carb-loading has been a big discussion of this Tour, seen as one of the reasons behind the superhuman performances from Pogačar and Vingegaard day in day out, a spectator with the flag of Brittany draped around his torso, decided to take matters into his own hands by shoving a bag of crisps first in the face of Pogačar, and then of Vingegaard seconds later.

THIS IS ONE SICK PERSON 😡 #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/HJymX9W5BH

— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) July 13, 2024

Thankfully, the actions didn’t lead to any adverse conclusions for the riders, although Pogačar could be seen shaking his head annoyingly, and Vingegaard questioned why would someone come to a bike race to do this, speaking after the stage.

> “We don’t need a stage ruined because of a basic photo taken on a phone”: Tour de France fan almost brings down Jonas Vingegaard while stepping into road to take photo of speeding peloton

French news website Le Parisien now reports that the man has been taken into custody by the French police and will have his case heard today, with authorities waiting for him to sober up after he had allegedly spent the entire afternoon drinking alcohol.

Alexis, another cycling fan who had travelled from Brittany to witness the Pyrenees summit finish and was standing close to the perpetrator, who's been dubbed 'Dorito man' on social media, said: “He was with a group of very nice friends, cycling fans, like us. We got to know each other well, talked about everything, about cycling, Brittany and played the puck… But he spent the afternoon with a good amount of drinks”.

He added that a police officer who saw the scene intervened immediately after he repeated the same thing with Vingegaard and removed him from the roadside. A police car arrived five minutes later to take him away.

Alexis claimed that he didn’t understand why the man decided to throw the chips, but attributed it to his excessive drinking.

“The gesture did not look premeditated. After the riders passed by, his friends were surprised. They were obviously not on their first Tour but it’s the first time he’s done bullshit like that,” he said, adding that the man’s friends were worried about him after his inappropriate behaviour.

Tadej Pogačar wins stage 14, Tour de France 2024 (ASO/Billy Ceusters)

Images and videos of the incident, which took away some attention from the otherwise completely captivating GC battle in the Tour, were circulated widely on social media, drawing heavy criticism from fans.

Adam Hansen, former pro and president of the riders’ association CPA said that they will take “legal action against this guy with pleasure” due to what he did to both Pogačar and Vingegaard. “This is disrespectful and will not be tolerated,” he added.

The @cpacycling will take legal action against this guy with pleasure due to what he did to both @TamauPogi and @VingegaardJonas. This is disrespectful and will not be tolerated. https://t.co/tJpyz09VSU

— Adam Hansen (@HansenAdam) July 13, 2024

However, the Tour organiser ASO has reportedly confirmed to Le Parisien that they wouldn’t be filing a complaint against the man.

> Jumbo-Visma willing to sue Tour de France spectator who caused huge crash while taking selfie

While Vingegaard did manage to keep up with Pogačar initially, he would continue the grow the gap and finish 39 seconds ahead of the winner of the last two Tours, gaining four more bonus seconds at the finish line and extending his lead to almost two minutes in the general classification.

Evenepoel, meanwhile dropped down to third position behind Vingegaard, after the Belgian failed to keep up with him on Pla d’Adet, and now sits 2:22 behind Pogačar, with the Slovenian’s teammate João Almeida in fourth place, 6 minutes behind.

In other news, British rider for Ineos Grenadiers Tom Pidcock became the latest person to withdraw from the Tour due to Covid, joining Pogačar’s teammate Juan Ayuso and Sir Mark Cavendish’s leadout man Michael Morkov.

This marks another incident at this Tour de France where spectators' unseemingly actions have come to the fore. Even before the race started, a fan reportedly “jumped a barrier” and tangled with Soudal-Quick Step rider Jan Hirst as he was making his way back to his team bus area following the sign-on, resulting in the Czech rider falling over his handlebars and landing face-first, breaking three teeth in the process.

According to Strava, Tadej Pogacar reached a max speed of 35.4 km/h during his brutal attack on Pla d'Adet and he climbed for 1 minute at 27 km/h on a 9% gradient. 🚀 Insane acceleration, nobody has an answer to that. #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/mBWUKEhlRh

— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) July 13, 2024

Quick-Step's typically outspoken boss Patrick Lefevere said: "What happened is unacceptable. We have so many rules and we have to pay for everything. And then the collision happens with that stupid spectator and his backpack.

"Yesterday he couldn't eat during the ride, not even gels. He survived the entire ride on water bottles. I arranged for him to have surgery yesterday in a private clinic. Fortunately, in the evening he was back at the hotel with three repaired teeth."

And then on the second stage, a spectator filming the second stage of the Tour de France from the roadside had their mobile phone knocked from their hand when they inadvertently hit a rider from EF Education-EasyPost as the peloton passed at speed.

It prompted the official Tour de France account on Twitter to post the video as a warning to spectators, urging roadside fans to "respect the riders" and "stay away from the road".

And then in the fifth stage — the stage in which Cavendish managed to break the all-time record for Tour de France stage wins with an incredible sprint, an oblivious spectator encroached onto the road to take a photo, almost bringing most of the Visma-Lease a Bike team, including Vingegaard, down.

“The bloke’s taking a photo on the side of the road and putting himself amongst the peloton, they’re ducking under his elbow – another close call,” an exasperated Robbie McEwen, a 12-time Tour de France stage winner, said while commentating for Eurosport, while cycling writer Mathew Mitchell wrote on Twitter: “We don't need a stage ruined because of a basic photo taken on a phone.”