June 27, (THEWILL) – In the fallout from the unfortunate scenes from the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, the Gendarmerie du Finistère, a branch of the French Armed Forces, have begun a manhunt for the overzealous fan responsible for the huge crash.
As reported by THEWILL, this fan, who seemed to be doing the utmost to appear in the live broadcast of the race, inadvertently hit a participating rider, Tony Martin, with the placard she had. The woman had stepped onto the road with her back to the speeding peloton and held up a sign to show the television motorbike cameras.
Hitting the sign forced Martin and his bike into a tumble, which caused a horrifying domino effect ending in a tangle of dozens of bikes and bodies.
The ensuing pile-up it caused caught the Jumbo–Visma pair of Wout van Aert and Primoz Roglic, Sonny Colbrelli of Bahrain Victorious, Marc Soler of Movistar among others.
These riders came down hard on the asphalt to the effect that DSM’s German rider Jasha Sutterlin was forced to pull out of the race completely. The impact went beyond the riders as several others, including some spectators, were also hurt.
The severity of the crash from a fan’s carelessness has led the Gendarmerie du Finistère to open an investigation into the crash as revealed in a statement they released via their official Facebook account.
In the post, the Gendarmerie added that the fan, who held up a sign that read ALLEZ OPI-OMI! which roughly translates as COME ON GRANDDAD-GRANNY, had left the scene before she could be apprehended for questioning. It asked anyone with information on the fan to get in touch.
In full, the statement, titled, “CALL FOR WITNESSES,” read: “In the context of an accident that occurred on 06/26/21 on the RD30 commune of ST CADOU (29), during the first stage of the TOUR DE FRANCE 2021, a judicial investigation was opened for “Unintentional injuries with incapacity not exceeding not three months by manifestly wilful violation of an obligation of safety or prudence”.
“The spectator at the origin of this accident left the scene before the arrival of the investigators. She was wearing glasses and blue jeans, a red and white striped sweater, a yellow jacket (waxed). She is holding a sign bearing the inscription “ALLEZ OPI-OMI!”
“Anyone with information is requested to call the operational center of the Finistère gendarmerie at 02.98.55.80.66”
When accosted, there is every likelihood that this fan could face some extra charges according to Pierre-Yves Thouault, the deputy director of the Tour de France. He was adamant when he said: “We are suing this woman who behaved so badly. We are doing this so that the tiny minority of people who do this don’t spoil the show for everyone.”
There was a second crash of the day at a later part in the first stage. In this second brutal pile-up, a rider from B&B Hotels p/b KTM came down approaching the final climb of the day, causing a huge pile-up that brought down almost half of the peloton to make this the worst first stage in the history of the Tour de France.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
