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news
EF Education-EasyPost rider hit by fan at Tour de France (ITV)"That could have been an absolute disaster": Tour de France cyclist hit by fan filming race on mobile phone
A spectator filming the second stage of the Tour de France from the roadside had their mobile phone knocked from their hand when they inadvertently hit a rider from EF Education-EasyPost as the peloton passed at speed.
The incident, captured by the TV cameras, happened early on the route from Cesenatico to Bologna, the race's second stage in Italy during this weekend's Grand Depart. As the peloton rode past on the right-hand side of the road the spectator hit an EF Education-EasyPost rider as she filmed the race, her phone sent flying by the impact that thankfully did not cause a crash.
🙏 Rispettate i corridori, per favore!
🙏 Please respect the riders, stay away from the road!
🙏 Respectez les coureurs, restez bien en dehors de la route !#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/tw4eOo70Z9
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) June 30, 2024
It prompted the official Tour de France account on Twitter/X to post the video as a warning to spectators, urging roadside fans to "respect the riders" and "stay away from the road".
It seems the spectator had not expected the riders to be as close to the side of the road and was caught by surprise when her elbow made contact with the EF Education-EasyPost rider while she filmed the race.
As the riders continued to pass, the woman could be seen walking away and looking for her phone.
Commentating for Eurosport, 12-time Tour de France stage winner Robbie McEwen reacted to the replay: "Spectators, keep your arms in! Now wandering into the peloton just about. That could have been an absolute disaster. That was a pretty heavy impact."
The incident had shades of the infamous crash on the opening stage of the 2021 Tour de France, caused by a roadside spectator whose sign with a message to her grandparents was held in the path of riders, hitting Tony Martin and causing a huge crash that left three riders too injured to continue.
The 31-year-old, who initially fled the scene but turned herself into police four days later, was fined €1,200 and also ordered to pay a symbolic €1 to the French Cycling Union, UNCP.
She 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".
Ultimately, she avoided jail time but received a hefty fine, the woman saying she felt "ashamed" by her actions and was left to "regret my stupidity".
Even before this year's edition had rolled out of Florence, Soudal Quick-Step's Jan Hirt was injured in a crash caused by a spectator, the Czech climber riding from the sign-on back to his team bus when a fan jumped over a barrier and collided with him, the picture of his chipped teeth later shared on social media by the rider's team boss Patrick Lefevere.
Once the riders reached Bologna on stage two it was another victory for the French, Arkéa–B&B Hotels' Kévin Vauquelin winning from the breakaway following two ascents of the iconic San Luca climb.
Behind, Tadej Pogačar launched his first attack of the Tour as the world was given the first indication of Jonas Vingegaard's fitness following the horrific injuries which looked for a long time to almost certainly rule him out of cycling's biggest race. As the Slovenian crested the final climb there was one rider glued to his wheel — the Dane. So far so good for the Visma-Lease a Bike rider at the race in search of a third consecutive Tour victory.
The pair rode to the finish together, gaining a small amount of time on some of the other GC hopefuls, Remco Evenepoel and Richard Carapaz managing to bridge across and avoid losing any seconds.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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13 comments
I think in this instance the riders themselves were partially to blame. Look at the amount of road space there is available! Why choose to ride within centimetres of the spectators, who were all stood behind the white line marking the edge of the road. Now had you told me about the idiots on the Galibier, including the tw@t in the spotty t-shirt who stood in front of the UAE train as they pulled for Pogacar, only moving when the first rider was 2m away, or had you told me that mobile phones are one of the scourges of modern life then I'd agree. However in this instance I think the riders invited trouble.
For starters, she may have been standing behind the white line but her hand was sticking over it; secondly, riders may want to ride right on the edge of the road for a number of reasons, cars coming through, more shelter from the wind, lining up for a bend or not allowing any other riders to get inside them and use them as a windbreak. The tarmac is the riders' workplace and they are entitled to use every inch of it, on a flat road with high speeds spectators should be on the pavement if there's a kerb or on the verge if there isn't, the white lines are there to control everyday traffic, they have no relevance to the race and certainly don't mark a permissible boundary line for the spectators.
I cannot stand it when people use a logic in an online forum "debate". Makes no sense to me at all.
As usual, shit for brains. What is the matter with these people?
You provided the answer to your question - shit for brains.
They're human. If we're honest, most of us have shit for brains some, if not most, of the time. Fortunately, mostly it doesn't have the potential for serious consequences.
When does being a human with all it's associated shortfalls stop being an excuse though. We could say the same for the NMOTD video clips we always see.
It's not an excuse, it's an explanation. Vo2Maxi asked what was wrong with them - I gave a diagnosis. The treatment is another matter altogether.
It says it all when the 'spectator''s first thought when putting the riders at risk is to put them and herself even more at risk by moving further into the road to retrieve her phone.
Exactly what I was thinking. The only thing more precious to humans than their mobile phone is their car - other people's safety seems to come much further down the list.
What kind of 'fan' is it that thinks this kind of behaviour is acceptable? As a sports photographer, and one who was fortunate to be roadside for the first two stages of the Giro in Northern Ireland, I somehow manage to 'stick myself in the road of the approaching riders' and yet be able to withdraw before there's any risk of contact. How? By using those handy things called eyes which most of us have. That and using that oxymoron, 'common' sense.
If you think cycling fans are bad, they had to cancel several stages of the World Rally Championship round in Poland at the weekend because there was genuine fear one of them would get killed.
https://x.com/antonio_wermuth/status/1806296394744881535
In summary - spectator intrudes on cycle race, danger is to the cyclist. Spectator intrudes on car race, danger is to the spectator. I'm sure there's a wider lesson there, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
It's probably helmets.
*Runs away*