Fan with sign causes massive wreck
during first stage of 2021 Tour de France
ESPN,
by
Daniel McMahon
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
6/27/2021 6:35:10 PM
The 2021 Tour de France got off to a crash-filled start Saturday. Cyclist Tony Martin rode into a fan holding a cardboard sign Saturday during the first stage, which began in Brest, France. The fan, who appeared to be trying to get on TV, was in the road and took out nearly an entire peloton of riders.
"It was stressful," said former Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas, via The Associated Press. "I was just concentrating on staying on my bike, basically. Happy to get through it." (Snip) It was the first of two pileups in the stage. The Tour de France's official Twitter account later cautioned fans
I've never seen anything like it...virtually the entire field dropped on a narrow road. The cause was a stupid, attention-demanding kid on the track with a sign "Hello Grandma and Grandpa". He ought to get the Bartman treatment, if not jailed. It's really must see video...especially the overhead view.
11 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Flyball Dogs 6/27/2021 6:47:43 PM (No. 828520)
Idiot woman.
This morning they announced the Tour is going to sue her. This is one lawsuit I support.
21 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Hairy Eyeball 6/27/2021 6:50:22 PM (No. 828524)
Just as long as he was wearing a mask...
4 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
MickTurn 6/27/2021 6:57:27 PM (No. 828537)
Let me help Frenchies...PUT UP AN 8' FENCE!
7 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 6/27/2021 7:00:21 PM (No. 828542)
Let's hope that the crowd 'sorted' this dangerous fool out.
I heard about this. Ultra stupid and inconsiderate. LOOK AT ME!
I'm a idiot on TV!
9 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Sully 6/27/2021 7:26:43 PM (No. 828561)
Tour de Pileup
2 people like this.
The Gendarmes have issued a BOLO for her. And a warrant….
5 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
foxglove 6/27/2021 7:48:05 PM (No. 828585)
We have followed the race for years.
Instagram attention getting young woman against elite athletes that race nearly 2,000 miles during this three week period. She needs to examine her priorities. Maybe grandma and grandpa will help her grow up by turning her in so she can be held accountable. Broken bones, head injuries and head trauma among a lot of road rash and broken expensive bikes. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional but it sure was stupid.
9 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Italiano 6/27/2021 7:55:41 PM (No. 828594)
Watch a motorcyclist "identifying" as a bicyclist set an all-time Tour de France record.
4 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 6/27/2021 8:00:48 PM (No. 828598)
Hopefully she is charged with a crime. The cyclists are only inches away as it is. Who is stupid enough to step into the pathway waving a big sign? It only takes 1 idiot.
7 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 6/27/2021 8:09:51 PM (No. 828605)
Hopefully nobody broke a fingernail in their cutesy little fluorescent space outfit.
1 person likes this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
bad-hair 6/27/2021 8:10:48 PM (No. 828608)
Just can't get rid of this mental image of frogs on bikes.
2 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 6/27/2021 8:30:44 PM (No. 828632)
I didn't know Florida Man could write well enough to make a sign!
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/27/2021 9:10:10 PM (No. 828668)
Re #1, that is not correct. Not a kid on a truck. A grown woman in a yellow slicker jacket and green cap, standing on the roadside, flashing a large sign made out of corrugated cardboard with those words in German. Her sign protruded out in front of the cyclists, right at handlebar level. She is quite clear in the video and still outtakes. Her face is recognizable. The Tour plans to locate her and have her prosecuted.
6 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/27/2021 9:33:26 PM (No. 828681)
Correction to #14. The words on the sign were in French and German…she may be from Alsace...
2 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/27/2021 9:34:07 PM (No. 828682)
And I misread #1. Yes, she was by the roadside.
1 person likes this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
formerNYer 6/27/2021 9:51:47 PM (No. 828694)
#4 you can't put up a fence for the entire 120+ miles race every day in 21 different locations.
The woman should be fined and jailed, one of the riders had to abandoned the Tour, many others are riding hurt so the next 3 weeks. Many bikes were destroyed each of those bikes are 12k+. So there was over 100K in damage.
4 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
downnout 6/27/2021 10:51:29 PM (No. 828740)
If and when the authorities catch this idiot woman, I hope the teams that were affected sue the pants off her for lost earnings, publicity, etc. Her stupidity could literally cost a couple of those teams millions.
6 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
red1066 6/28/2021 12:05:31 AM (No. 828765)
People are allowed to almost be in the road watching the cyclists during this race. I'm surprised more cyclists aren't in massive pileups more often.
1 person likes this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
DVC 6/28/2021 2:04:28 AM (No. 828799)
Not "almost in the road". In many of the areas near mountain passes a ~18 foot wide road is narrowed to 6-8 feet by spectators standing in the road. Fortunately, at those points, they are typically down to one or two riders wide.
This idiot woman was not even looking in the direction of the riders, was looking at the TV camera and trying to get her sign noticed as she stepped in front of the riders and was hit from behind. Damned stupid, and she injured a number of people, destroyed a number of extremely expensive racing bikes, and possibly ended careers with her brainless, thoughtless actions.
I hope they make a real example out of her and that it sobers up a bunch of the fools who endanger riders with their inconsiderate roadside (and in the road) antics. People train hard for many years to be able to be there, and huge sums and whole careers, dreams of lifetimes, hinge on this. A fall can be a career ender, or at least change the trajectory a lot if there is a broke collar bone, one of the most common injuries.
4 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
MDConservative 6/28/2021 11:25:14 AM (No. 829161)
#14 - She was not "on the roadside" but standing in the road...with her sign.
1 person likes this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Faithfully 6/28/2021 7:07:18 PM (No. 829673)
So Seinfeldian.
0 people like this.
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Signs, signs, everywhere a sign