The Tour de France gets a lot of things on the first two stages. On Sunday, the cycling stars not only created the weather on the longest stage of this year’s France loop, the frenetic fans also came to the fore in some places. The organizers reacted immediately with a clear announcement.
The organizers of the Tour de France north enter the numerous fans who, with their support on the route on Sunday, meant a little too well on the way from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer.
“For your own security and that the driver: do not use smoke bombs and do not run next to the drivers!”, It was said in the evening on the official X-Account of the Tour de France in English and French.
The organizers published a video of a mountain arrival on the 209.1 kilometer mammoth stage in northern France. There are cycling fans that stand close to the edge of the narrow street and cheer the drivers frenetically. A fan ignited a room bomb, another even put on a sprint to accompany the drivers for a few meters.
Tour de France: fans come close to the stars
Scenes like this are not unusual at the Tour de France per se, the mood is often left out among the followers.
In the past, there were even several falls caused by spectators on the side of the path. In 2021 there was a mass crash, which later wrote headlines as a “grandpa-in-company accident”: a woman had held a sign with the inscription “Allez Grandpa Omi” into the TV cameras on the first stage when the peloton rushed past from behind. The German cyclist Tony Martin could no longer avoid and fell, several drivers injured themselves in the course of the mass crash. The woman was finally charged with negligent bodily harm, and in the end she was fined.
Video: This is the German Tour hope Lipowitz
In 2023 it had caught the Belgian Steff Cras when he was cleared by a fan. Then he had to end the tour. The tour operators want to avoid scenes like those this year.
The third stage of this year’s Tour de France starts in Valenciennes (from 1:10 p.m. in the live ticker on Sport.de). After 178.3 kilometers, the destination is waiting in Dunkirk.