Tour de France

BaZmO*

Don't know if this has been asked before. Apologies if it has but I did do a search and found nothing.

I was watching the cycling on the telly the other night and at the end of the show they compiled some clips of action from the Tour set to some appropriately catchy tune. But one of the clips showed some cyclists passing through an area where it seemd to show spectators throwing things at the cyclists and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Was I imagining this, or can anybody throw some light on it?

Cheers,

B.

rob1891

They are throwing water, they don't do it out of malice, but to help the cyclists cool down on the hardest climbs. Whether the riders would prefer to be left alone or not I don't know.

The fans can be trouble sometimes, getting dangerously close, Armstrong ran inot a spectator and came down in a previous tour and I remember a guy with a camera leaned out and was tricked by the lens as to how close the oncoming rider was, end result somone was taken down.

BaZmO*

Yeah I have noticed over the years spectators throwing water and the like but for some reason the clip the other night just look there was fight or something.
There was people in the middle of the road while the cyclist were passing and there was stuff all over the road. Just seemed like something more than over zealous locals!

uberwolf

I know Armstrong was under threat this year, particularly on teh Alpe D'Huez but I can't remember if he actually took a punch, I think he may have.

As for the water, some like it some don't but ehy don't get asked!!!

uberwolf

you have to bear in mind that there were over a million people lining the side of the Alpe last week, all it takes are a few.

jester77

There was strong wind on one of the stages. This caused plastic chairs, papers and other sort of stuff to get blown into the paths of the riders. There were people trying to move the stuff out of the riders way. Perhaps it was a clip of this that was shown!

da_deadman

The Tour de France organisers said after the race finished that there were death threats issued to Armstrong, and there was a couple of extra cops on bikes as security when he rode the Alpe d'Huez time trial. There has been no mention of him getting physically attacked. And some of the fans were giving a lot of verbal abuse to Armstrong, his US Postal teammates, and Jens Voigt (cause he chased down Ullrich when he attacked on Stage 15).

With Armstrong and Ullrich's successes over the years cycling has gotten popular with these 2 being proper sporting celebrities. This has led a lot of fans to the roadside of the Tour who know little of the sport, and some of these seem to be of the hooligan type that usually just go to football matches. A lot of the riders were scared going through the huge crowds this year, even the main fan favourite of the French Richard Virenque admitted to being scared for the first time on a bicycle. But there is nothing that can be done about it, because of the nature of the sport. The fans will always be right beside the riders.

Although I suppose this is really nothing new, since even the great Eddy Merckx was punched by a spectator back in the 1975 Tour. It just seems like the crowds are getting more aggressive now.

BaZmO*

Originally posted by jester77
There was strong wind on one of the stages. This caused plastic chairs, papers and other sort of stuff to get blown into the paths of the riders. There were people trying to move the stuff out of the riders way. Perhaps it was a clip of this that was shown!

That sounds about right. I do remember seeing plastic chairs.