Tour Organizers Taking Action Against Spectator Who Caused Stage 1 Crash

[brooklynite]

Source: Bicycling

The roadside fan who caused a giant crash in the first stage of the 2021 Tour de France on Saturday will be sued by the organizers.

A woman held up a banner while standing on the edge of the road and was looking straight at the television motorbike cameras, with her back turned on the speeding peloton.

German rider Tony Martin of Jumbo Visma brushed past her and was knocked off balance near the head of the peloton, and when he fell it caused a horrifying domino effect, creating a tangle of bikes and bodies.

DSM’s German rider Jasha Sutterlin was the only one who had to pull out at that moment but several people were hurt, including spectators.

Read more: https://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/a36851615/tour-de-france-stage-1-crash/

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Link to tweet

The sign (in French and German) said "Go Grandma-Grandpa&quot

[mikeysnot]

1. Glad to see that America is not the only nation of

Dumb asses.

[treestar]

7. True, though is it spreading to them later

in the US there would likely be a large space between the bikers and the crowd, once that happened. There's something to be said for litigiousness!

[NJCher]

2. is this another idiot

staging a photo? I think so because the person is looking away from the bikers. Another person is probably across the road taking the photo. The message of the sign is compatible with this observation.

The photo stuff is out of control. People take such crazy risks for a photo they can post on their Facebook or Instagram.

[Retrograde]

3. Or hoping for some brief TV exposure

There are a lot of cameras accompanying the Tour. Since she was holding a sign that seemed to be a shout-out to her grandparents i think she was trying for 10 seconds on TV

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Said Same Yesterday

First, I didn't know that was a woman. I thought it was a young guy, until now.
But, it sure looks like she turns the sign toward the camera & appears to be mugging for it.
Really dumb stunt!

[northoftheborder]

4. I'm surprised this has not happened earlier.

Signs, and standing right on the edge of the pavement so close to racers should not be allowed.

[reACTIONary]

10. Agree...

... all of the spectators are too close. They should have ropes or traffic cones keeping the crowd back.

[Lucky Luciano]

18. Exactly...perhaps the rally car racing fans should show them how it's done

Last edited Mon Jun 28, 2021, 12:44 PM - Edit history (1)

On second thought, maybe not…

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. {Speechless} NT

[Kaleva]

6. "Oh, the humanity!" one broadcaster covering the event was heard to say.

[canetoad]

8. Anyone else wondered what the sign says?

What does 'allez opi-omi' mean?

The sign is a combination of two languages, French and German. "Allez" means "go" in French, according to Google Translate, while "opi" and "omi" are German terms for "grandpa" and "grandma," according to Dict.cc. So the sign would translate to "Go grandpa-grandma."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/tour-de-france-2021-fan-with-sign-causes-major-crash-what-does-allez-opi-omi-mean/ar-AALu3u5

[drray23]

14. Meaning she is probably from Alsace.

This part of France borders Germany and they speak French and German.

[csziggy]

16. I plugged it into my Google Translate with "detect language" setting

It said it was Arabic for "Antelope Mom."

[canetoad]

19. LOL I did that too

And couldn't make sense of the Antelope part.

[ZonkerHarris]

9. La idiot.

[Justice matters.]

11. That close to athletes with... zero masks? Delta variant will strike big.

What are they thinking?

[maxsolomon]

17. It is outside.

Outdoors is low(er) risk. Much lower; under 0.1% risk per NYT articles.

Plus they're probably vaccinated. Even safer.

[Aussie105]

12. Safety margin of zero.

Time the riders got militant and told the organizers what is what - for safety's sake!

And the riders bunched that closely, breathing deeply - each others' air, and spectators' air? Nothing good will come of that!

[jmowreader]

13. Hopefully,,,

Part of the settlement will be to reimburse the teams for all the broken bikes.

Carbon fiber bike frames are light and stiff, but if you so much as put a hairline crack in one, it’s history. There are pictures of at least one with snapped seat stays.

[IronLionZion]

15. There are dumbasses in every country

I've always worried about spectators too close to racers in general. That's common in much of the world where they race on regular roads rather than a stadium track like NASCAR.

[orleans]

20. from your link

"According to regional newspaper Ouest France the woman who was wearing a yellow jacket fled the scene and has yet to be found."

[Rollo]

21. The best thing that might be said of the sign-holder is...

That she probably didn't mean to cause a major crash. After all, bicycles are relatively silent.

Still, it was super dumb and probably criminally negligent.