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news
Vincenzo Nibali Giro d'Italia 2017 press conference (picture credit LaPresse - D'Alberto, Ferrari).jpgVincenzo Nibali's lawyer confident after meeting police that fan who ended his Tour de France will be caught
Vincenzo Nibali’s lawyer says he is hopeful that French police will identify the spectator whose camera strap got caught up in the Bahrain-Merida rider’s handlebars on Alpe d’Huez during this year’s Tour de France will be identified and brought to justice.
The incident on Stage 12 led to the Italian, winner of the yellow jersey in 2014, abandoning the race before the following stage after it was discovered that he had fractured a vertebra as a result of the crash.
L’Equipe reports that Nibali, accompanied by his lawyer Fausto Malucchi, has now met with Gendarmes investigating the incident. The meeting, said to have lasted three hours, took place in Modane, just across the border from Italy in France’s Savoie department.
The meeting came about after Nibali filed a formal complaint with the French authorities against “unknown persons” following the incident, the aftermath of which also meant that he was not at peak fitness for the UCI Road World Championships, one of his big goals for the 2018 season.
Afterwards, Malucchi said that he had been “impressed by the way the investigation is being conducted, right down to the most minute detail.”
He believes that the offending spectator can be quickly identified, and the case resolved, and also highlighted the difference between the management of crowds the Tour de France with that of the Giro d’Italia, where he pointed out that on the Zoncolan, for example, organisers use a chain of volunteers to hold back the fans in the closing kilometres of the climb.
Away from racing, in recent days Nibali, nicknamed the Shark of the Straits (of Messina, his home city) has also been channelling his inner swordfish, undertaking a spot of fencing.
His tutor? Valentina Vezzali. The name may mean nothing to British ears outside fencing circles, but she has something in common with track cycling greats Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny – six Olympic gold medals.
See how he got on in this video from La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Last week, Nibali was in the UK, attending the travel trade show WTM London at ExCeL – and having won two Monuments in the shape of Milan-San Remo and il Lombardia, is this a hint at a future tilt at a third?
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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22 comments
I hope the Gendarmes track down the camera-toting spectator, who then brings a civil case against Nibali for breaking his camera strap.
Lance Armstrong sucked it up when he was brought down on Luz Ardiden in a similar way. Ullrich blamed Armstrong afterwards for riding too close to the spectators and implied it was his own fault.
Is Nibali claiming loss of earnings compensation from an insurance company who require a police investigation.
Is he trying to force organisers to erect barriers for more than the last km. as it suits him to break away at that point.
Is he simply being critical of TdF organisation. All a bit strange.
Go to race.
Stand too close to riders.
Knock/bring a rider off.
Take responsibility for own actions.
That simple.
DO NOT blabe the organisers because they whipped you up into a frenzy, you're supposed to be an adult.
DO NOT blame the police because they couldn't control you, you're a fucking adult for ffs
!
But the organisers know from experience that some spectators don't behave themselves; otherwise there'd be no need for marshals and police. The "party atmosphere" of places like Alpe d'Huez is actively promoted by the Tour. Dutch corner is seen as an icon of the race (it's the last place I'd go to spectate at a bike race).
If an organisation invites a few thousand people to get drunk at their sporting event, then fails to adequately control the resulting carnage, I'm afraid a lot of the responsibility for the riders' safety does lie with them.
Expecting grown adults to take personal responsibility is all well and good, but it tends to fall by the wayside when you put a few humans together, hence the term "herd mentality".
Someone with more knowledge will tell me the last rider to be taken down at Dutch Corner, as I can't remember, by a group of partying EuroPissHeads.
As I recall, Nibali was brought down in an area where the crowd closed the road down by knowing better than the marshalls and stepping into the path of the oncoming cyclists. This particular fan knew even more as they decided that standing so close to the riders with a dangling strap was also acceptable.
Having stood close to many cyclists with a camera, you learn that there has to be a trust between rider and camera holder and camera holder makes bloody sure that they do nothing that'll surprise or endanger the rider. The trust can be so great that a rider knows that they can get so close that pedals can
strikebrush the camera holder without the camera holder flinching. I am aware it's a different matter when riding through a crowd of proles.It's not often I agree with Carlton Kirby, but he's right when he picks out the muppetry of the so called fans looking and waving at the TV cameras, and not looking at the race. They are a danger to the riders.
We are lucky in cycling in that we can get so close to top riders without paying, not many sports you can do that. But we must remember that they are earning a living in this way and we don't have the right to impede them.
Blaming the organisation is not right either and (us) allowing this muppetry to continue will only put distance between fan and rider. We must be responsible for our own actions irrespective of what the organisers say or do. At a very basic level it's called common sense.
Yes, but proper crowd control is actually a thing... So did the organisers take the required, adequate safeguards to ensure race safety? Did the police do their job?
You don't have to rely on these people to tell you how to behave. You can literally think for yourself and actually use your own common sense. Shocking I know.
Just ask yourself why it's a thing.
Bloody spectators don't pay any road tax, but think they own the road.
There's only one way to resolve this. Mandatory registration plates for users of camera straps.
How could you expect Nibali to see the camera strap when it wasn't even hi-viz.
Good job Nibali was wearing a helmet; definitely saved him from a serious head injury.
etc etc etc
Surely the onus is on the cyclist to avoid the pedestrian no matter how careless they are, in the UK he'd be charged by the MET et al for manslaughter downgraded to the new wanton and furious attacking a camera strap law get banged up by paedophile coffin dodger judge.
But yeah, Nibs is being a right twat here, one hopes plod tell him to fuck off.
Wasn't wearing hi-viz though m'lud and they were riding two abreast - deserves all he gets.
This though is really a case of bad marshalling, and I dunno about the UK but over here in Ireland the lad with the camera strap would quite possibly have a big insurance claim in against the organisers for being put in danger etc. etc. (nb: I heartily disagree this complete derrogation of personal responsibility that makes it alway somebody elses problem to keep your stupid ass safe - but yeah Nibbles should just suck it up and look forward to 2019)
Although this 'incident' was gutting when it happened, I'm not happy with the thought of a spectator being prosecuted for this.
Presumably you go after Man-with-Camera if you know that Man-with-Camera was going after / targetting Nibali personally or that they had history or something?
If not, then surely its "only" a crowd control matter rather than some sort of criminal assault??
It will be interesting to see what is on the rap sheet, spectating without due care and attention??
So: is that careless spectating or dangerous spectating, m'lud?
Pretty sure we need a new law introducing to cover this. And to ban the sale of camera straps so this never happens again.
You've got to be joking.
The camera strap saved him from the catastrophic accident he would have had if he hadn't had this one. My uncle doesn't exist and he almost met someone who is a surgeon in a parallel universe. #CompulsoryCameraStraps
"Sun was in my eyes"
Classic diversion tactics. The marshalling on some key climbs in the TdF is so poor it is painful to watch (Ventoux sans velo, par example?) and must be truly dreadful for the riders...but let's all go after some bloke with a camera. Burn the witch.
The gendarmerie and marshals failed to adequately control the crowds lining the course; if I remember correctly, some spectators were on the wrong side of the barriers at the point where NIbali was brought down. The race organisers actively encourage a "stag do" atmosphere on Alpe d'Huez. But yeah, the guy with the errant camera strap - he must be found and made an example of.
FFS, the guy let his camera strap dangle into the road too far. He didn't drag Nibali off his bike and rape him or something.
stupidity and/or carelessness isn't a defence
Isn't a defence for what? What do you think he's going to be charged with? Dangerously standing in a crowd with an offensive camera strap??