Tour de France spectator who caused 'Allez Opi-Omi' crash fined €1,200

The spectator who caused a huge crash during the opening stage of this year's Tour de France, has been fined €1,200 by a French court. The woman avoided jail time, but was also ordered to pay a symbolic €1 to the French Cycling Union, UNCP.

The 31-year-old, from the Finistère department where the opening stage from Brest to Landernau took place, had been charged with “endangering others by manifestly deliberate violation of a regulatory obligation of safety and prudence,” causing “involuntary injuries, with incapacity not exceeding three months.”

The maximum penalty she could have faced was a €15,000 fine and/or 12 months’ imprisonment, although prosecutors had sought a four-month suspended sentence, which they said was intended to act as a “warning,” at a hearing at the criminal court in Brest in October.

Professional riders’ union the CPA had joined the action as a civil party and was seeking token compensation of €1 to reinforce to spectators their responsibility regarding race safety, as was the ANCP, which represents French riders.

> ‘Allez Opi-Omi’ Tour de France fan who caused huge crash asked for €1 compensation from pro riders’ union ahead of court case

Three riders – Cyril Lemoine of B&B Hotels, Groupama-FDJ’s Ignatas Konovalovas and Team DSM’s Jasha Sütterlin – were unable to carry on in the race, while a fourth, Movistar’s Marc Soler, finished the stage but had to abandon afterwards due to injuries sustained in the crash. 

The woman who caused the crash as she held up a sign greeting her grandparents in German fled the scene and turned herself in to gendarmes four days after the incident, which happened on 26 June.

> “I’m ashamed, I regret my stupidity” says spectator who caused Tour de France crash