The organisers of the Giro d’Italia have urged spectators to respect the riders and the race, after the Italian grand tour’s sixth stage to Naples was somewhat spoiled by an unsavoury incident which saw a young spectator run onto the road in front of the peloton, before attempting to push and kick the riders.
With around 50km remaining in today’s stage between Paestum and Naples, won by Davide Ballerini in a chaotic, crash-marred sprint, the peloton was navigating a roundabout outside Brusciano when a group of young spectators decided to recklessly intervene in the action.
Two young men, standing in the centre of the roundabout as part of a group, were captured on the TV cameras goading each other on, before lunging towards the riders as they passed. One of the men, dressed in a white shirt, then waved his hand in the path of the peloton, prompting several riders to gesture towards him in frustration.
As he moved towards the road again, a Bahrain-Victorious rider aimed a punch in his direction. That didn’t deter the foolhardy and evidently fame-hungry young spectator, who continued to attempt to disrupt the race, kicking his leg out at a Soudal Quick-Step rider before pushing him, and eventually returning to the middle of the roundabout.
Respect the riders. Respect the race. Respect the #GirodItalia
🫶 Fans, Tifosi. We love you on the roadside. We love your enthusiasm, we love that you cheer on the riders, we love that you dress like flamingos.
❌ But there’s a line not to cross. Don’t be like this guy. pic.twitter.com/iO7wJNkUOa
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 14, 2026
“There’s a lack of brain cells there,” a frustrated Rob Hatch said in commentary for TNT Sports. “Have you nothing better to do? What are you playing at?”
“As if this sport wasn’t dangerous enough. Obviously not a fan of the sport, is it?” added Olympic team pursuit champion Dani Rowe.
The Giro’s organisers immediately released a statement in response to the spectators’ actions, calling on fans at the roadside to “respect” the event and its participants.
“Respect the riders. Respect the race. Respect the Giro d’Italia,” the race said on its social media accounts.
“Fans, Tifosi. We love you on the roadside. We love your enthusiasm, we love that you cheer on the riders, we love that you dress like flamingos, or other animals.
“But there’s a line not to cross. Don’t be like this guy.”
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Thursday’s bizarre dangerous incident involving a spectator is the second in as many days at this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Yesterday, one local – waving at the camera and completely ignoring the race – stepped out onto the road, forcing Igor Arrieta, the eventual winner in Potenza, to swerve and duck to avoid him.
It’s also the second year in a row that chaos has engulfed the Giro’s trip to Naples. Last year, two pro-Palestine protesters ran onto the road and attempted to stretch tape across the path of the breakaway riders and the charging peloton in the closing kilometres. One of them then ran into the bunch waving a banner, as a number of fans chased him away.
8 thoughts on ““As if this sport wasn’t dangerous enough”: Giro d’Italia spectator pushes and tries to kick riders after running in front of peloton”
So what’s the cause of such spectator stupidity? …the selfish egotism of social media.
…What does everyone expect will happen when the fans no longer watch sport in real time, but prioritise recording themselves with their back to the action? And then when they don’t get enough likes, they want to take it further.
The cause is not the solution …looking at you sensationalist controversy driven cycling media.
@GravelIsNothingNew Absolute hogwash. Young men with a few drinks in them have been acting like arseholes since beer was invented. Go and read some history, in Victorian times it was a regular hazard for horse riders to have yokel youths try to scare their horses and make them bolt; early cyclists had to deal with much the same thing. The first cycle races were often disrupted by spectators scattering tacks in the road and even pushing riders off to try to better the chances of their favourites. It’s always tempting to think our age has discovered something new under the sun, but it’s also lazy and stupid. Blaming the cycling media (one assumes from your regular critical postings you directly mean road.cc) for what some pissed-up young men decide to do to show off is about as dumb as it gets.
These idiots are not cycling fans, they won’t be looking to cycling media for their ‘likes’
Good news that they’ve been arrested!
@GravelIsNothingNew Egotism and egoism sound similar but have quite different meanings. In simple terms, one is a bighead while the other is a d*ckhead. I refer the honourable poster to the word malapropism.
I was watching this on RAI yesterday (the Italian state broadcaster) The commentator was having a cow – who is this idiot? Enlarge the pictures, send them to the national police, send them to every police force in Europe, identify this idiot!!
I think it’s had quite a lot of press coverage now – someone must know who this idiot is.
@Rome73 Corriere della Sera are reporting that two 19-year-old men have been arrested and charged with endangering public safety during a sporting event.
The two clips are examples of two completely different idiots …
The guy trying to push rides off thier bikes…should be done for something fine (is prison too much as he did not actually hurt anyone?), but something to say this is a serious attempted asault and you pay a price for that!
The guy waving at the camera bike, is different (just as dangous, but different). Maybe not seen a bike race before, people are always shocked how fast the riders are. Motobike goes past with a camera …jump and wave…with ZERO concept that a cyclist is only a metres behind….lack of “understanding” rather than lack of “respect”.
Joining reckless driving (which includes some of the teams’ cars), we now have dangerous spectatoring. Whoever put pro (or not) riders in danger should be prosecuted in accordance with local laws. No exceptions.