Tour de France crash: Legal action not worth disrupting the long history of fan involvement
Spectators are an integral part of the history and culture of the Tour de France.
Thursday, July 1, 2021 3:47 AM UTC
Calamity marred the opening stage of the 2021 Tour de France, with two harrowing crashes in the final 45km of the stretch from Brest to Landernau.
The second of the two was a “normal” cycling crash – one rider’s wheels clipped another, causing a mass pile up and leaving two riders unable to continue.
But it was the first incident that has been controversial due to its cause – a roadside spectator’s homemade cardboard sign. French police are now seeking the fan whose sign interfered with the race, causing German rider Tony Hans-Joachim Martin to swerve into other riders and bring down most of the peloton. The fan holding the sign that read “Allez Omi Opi!” (roughly translated as “Go Grandpa and Grandma”) left the scene, and Belgian rider Jasper Stuyven later tweeted “I hope Omi & Opi are proud of you.”