By the end of the first stage of the three-week cycling grandtour, just over 45 kilometers remained, when a large part of the peloton, including the biggest favorites, fell to the ground. In a slight ascent, the German cyclist Tony Martin tripped over a spectator sign that interfered too much with the road, and Martin inadvertently caused the fall of at least sixty of his colleagues and opponents. Only the front of the group avoided the fall.
–
A day later, French police said they were looking for the woman, as they had left the scene of the accident and had not reported to the organizers or authorities. At the instigation of the race management, the careless accused the careless spectator of a deliberate general threat. Investigators called on witnesses to help identify her, and the French media speculate that it is Germany, according to the sign on the sign, writes BBC.
–
In total, four competitors had to resign after the first day, two of them after another mass fall, which occurred less than ten kilometers before the final stage finish. One of the B&B drivers crashed shortly before the finish line, and dozens of other racers flew over it at full speed, including four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froom of the Israel Start-Up team.
–
The Veteran Tour continues in the race, but the German Jasha Sütterlin, the Lithuanian Ignatas Konovalovas, the Frenchman Cyril Lemoine and the Spanish cyclist Marc Soler, who reached the finish line with both broken hands, said goodbye to the French three-week stage race.
–
This was not the first major accident with unpleasant consequences for cyclists caused by spectators. In the introductory road stage of the 1994 Tour, a policeman entered during the final spurt with the sole aim of photographing the finishing competitors. Several cyclists were waiting for a hard impact on the asphalt, directly to the police officer najel Belgian cyclist Willfried Nelissen, French cyclist Laurent Jalabert suffered ugly facial injuries from the clash.
–
“I’ve never been such a good sprinter after an accident,” he said later Jalabert, although he dominated the scoring sprinter competition on the next Tour.
–
Due to an enthusiastic photographer, the Italian mountaineer Guiseppi Guerini came to the ground in 1999. After the fall, however, the Italian, even with the help of the culprit of the accident, soon got into the saddle and eventually won the stage in the Alps.
–
In 2003, a curious fall in connection with spectators did not escape even the then star of this sport. The handlebars of Lance Armstrong are up during the climb in the fifteenth stage at the Luz Ardiden resort she hooked into a souvenir bag of one of the fans, and Armstrong and his pursuer Ibana Maya ended up on the ground. But Armstrong soon got up, mastered the stage and with it the entire Tour.
–
Not only spectators at the race track have a share in the accidents, but also cameramen who mediate the race to the spectators at the screens. In 2016, do it firsthand knew an elite duo of racers Richie Porte and Chris Froome. It was the British star Froome who tried out running in addition to cycling while chasing his Australian rival. Froome finally arrived in Paris in a yellow jersey for the leader, who defended last year’s triumph and claimed his third victory at the Old Lady.
—
