Disaster quite literally strikes at the Tour De France as a fan stood too close to the cycle track with a sign which ended up smacking German cyclist Tony Martin in the face as he passed, causing him to fall off his bike and take his fellow competitors down with him.
One by one, the cyclists fell down like a stack of dominoes after Martin which created a huge pile of crashed cyclists in the middle of the track. Amongst this pile was Dutch cyclist Wout van Aert and Italian champion Sonny Colbrelli who were some of the favourites to win but crashing into Martin ruined their chances.
In the aftermath of the crash, which stopped the race for five minutes, the rest of the cyclists took nearly 25 kilometres before they were able to completely regroup.
The fan’s sign translated to ‘Go, grandpa and grandma’. Assuming the grandparents were in the race, good on them for starters, but this event will make for an awkward dinner conversation when someone says “remember when you caused a huge accident at the Tour De France?” Maybe was trying to give her grandparents an advantage in the race? Who knows.
However, after causing the chaos, she quickly fled the scene but is going to be sued according to Tour Deputy Director Pierre-Yves Thouault:
“We are doing this so that the tiny minority of people who do this don’t spoil the show for everyone.”
Just when you think that’s enough drama for one race, another crash takes place 5km from the finish which scattered roughly 20 cyclists who needed medical attention. This one did not involve any fans.
World champion Julian Alaphilippe of France was the eventual winner of the race, claiming 10 bonus seconds and was ahead of second place Australian Michael Matthews by an additional 12 seconds.
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