Activist disturbs stage
Tour driver Sauer: “Human life at risk”
07/19/2025 – 6:10 p.m.Reading time: 1 min.
A few days ago, an activist disordered in a stage. One of the drivers influenced by it has no understanding for this.
The Tour de France lives from close to the cycling fans. But this closeness also has limits. On Wednesday, a spectator ran onto the route at the 11th stage – in the middle of Mauro Schmid and Jonas Abrahamsen’s final sprint. The man wore a T-shirt with a political message, demanding the exclusion of Israeli drivers from the tour. It was a high risk that the man simply ran onto the route to be in the TV picture. The Swiss Mauro Schmid had no understanding for this.
“If I look at the videos and photos, it looks crazy. If he had ran into us, he would have endangered human life – his and ours. And also those of the audience, because then the bicycles might have flown over the gangs,” said Schmid to the “look”. The scene occurred when the outlier duo was fighting for the day’s victory.
In his criticism, Schmid was not concerned with naming protest as the reason for his defeat, but about a clear signal: the behavior of individual spectators brings serious risks.
Schmid was particularly concerned about dangerous situations that he experienced again and again. Some spectators stretched their cell phones far on the street or even laid on the asphalt to make selfies. “All of this is an extreme risk,” warned the Swiss.