Massive Pile-Up Carnage On Tour de France Caused By A Single Spectator

By Margareth

Anything can happen in road racing, but the last thing racers need is a mindless fan holding out her placard in the middle of the track for a selfie. Seriously, road racing can be dangerous if people cannot reign themselves from trying to get people killed.

Tour de France kicked start with chaos as the peloton got into a pile-up just as they began their 45-km cycle.

The carnage caused serious injuries to multiple people as they continued cycling with scars and blood rolling down their cheeks.

Many cyclists continued their race after getting up from the crash.

Reuters

Caught on tape was Tony Martin from the Jumbo-Visma team, who ended up crashing onto a woman's arm holding a placard.

The woman stood with one leg on the track and her arm holding the placard.

His whole team got caught in the crash except for one teammate who kept going. In total, over 20 riders fell down, with several, including Team DSM's Jasha Sutterlin retiring early due to injuries.

Tony Martin who was the first to fell recovered and continued with road rash visible on him.

AP

Caught clearly on tape was the lady smiling to the camera with a sign that reads, "allez opi omi," a greeting to grandparents in French.

 In slow-motion, Tony Martin, who couldn't move elsewhere, had no choice but to crash on her arm, causing him to lose balance and fall. It caused a chain of crashes that became one of the Tour's largest horrifying incidents.

Caught in the pile-up were Belgian superstar Wout van Aert and Peter Sagan as well as world champion Julian Alaphilippe who later won the competition.

The incident had sparked outrage from the cycling community, including Michael Hutchinson who tweeted, "It's a long time since I've seen anything so stupid as that spectator."

The second pile-up happened with only six kilometers left from the finish line. Chris Froome got caught and winched in pain before he eventually got back up to finish the race. Sports journalist Sophie Smith shared, "Chris Froome finished the stage and nodded his head at us when asked if he was OK after coming down in that crash. His teammate Dan Martin was sporting a bloodied arm."

AP

As the race came to a finish, authorities are now looking for the person in question that had became a dangerous presence at the Tour de France.

Reuters

Tags: #viral #Pile-Up Carnage #Tour de France #Spectator