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Spectators cause two crashes in two days at Tour de France, Steff Cras forced to leave and blasts them saying "you have no respect"Tour de France 2023 stage 8 crash (Eurosport/GCN+)

Spectators cause two crashes in two days at Tour de France, Steff Cras forced to leave and blasts them saying "you have no respect"

Lilian Calmejane went down today after a fan pole took him out, and yesterday GC contender Steff Cras, who had to abandon the race, said "I hope you feel guilty"...
by Adwitiya Pal
Sun, Jul 09, 2023 17:57
8

Riders have blasted spectators for inadvertently causing two crashes in two days at the Tour de France, with a fan tribute pole taking Lilian Calmejane out today, while a bigger crash yesterday resulted in Steff Cras, placed 13th in the general classification being forced to abandon the Tour, as well as Simon Yates and Mikel Landa losing crucial seconds.

Yesterday's stage eight, which had already caught out Mark Cavendish and ended his final Tour de France with an unfortunate crash, later also saw another pile-up towards the end. 

While the cameras didn't pick up how the riders went down, Steff Cras could be seen lying down at the side of the road in visible agony. His angry tweet later revealed that it was caused due to fans spilling on to the road.

"When a spectator step up more than one meter up the road and don’t move when the peloton arrive than you better stay home. You have no respect for the riders. I hope you feel really guilty! I have to leave Le Tour because of you," wrote the Belgian, who was TotalEnergies best-placed rider in the general classification.

​> "His career cannot end here": Mark Cavendish's team ready to offer him another shot at Tour de France record win

Meanwhile, the crash also caught out Jayco-AlUla's Simon Yates, who is in fourth-position and vying for the GC podium, as well as Bahrain Victorious' Mikel Landa, 11th in the GC. Both riders lost 47 seconds after they couldn't chase back the leading bunch.

And then in today's stage nine, which marked a return of the iconic Puy de Dôme climb to Tour de France after 35 long years, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty's Lilian Calmejane became the next victim of spectator's actions.

> Tour de France legends: The iconic Puy de Dôme returns to the Tour after 35 years

A bunch of fans had strung up five decorative jerseys between two polesticks in tribute of Raymond Poulidor, who contested an iconic battle with Jacques Anquetil in 1964 at the dormant volcano of Puy de Dôme. However, one of the sticks snapped and the whole raggedly-put thing came down, with Calmejane getting caught up in the contraption of strings and fabric.

"Oh no," said Eurosport commentator Rob Hatch. "What are they playing at?"

The spectator rushed to help him out, but instead got the one of the jerseys thrown back in his face, and a death stare from the understandibly enraged Calmejane.

This is the second time that Calmejane has found himself suffering due to unfortunate events in this Tour de France. After the second stage on last Sunday, the French cyclist shared  a furious social media post showing his front tyre covered with tacks that were spread on the road.

> Tour de France hit by tack attack, Lilian Calmejane calls out "morons" who endangered riders

"Thank you for this kind of human bullshit," he wrote. "I don't think I was the only victim of a puncture in the end… know that you can fall and get really hurt with your bullshit you morons."

The tacks were believed to have been on the course at around 45km to go when a series of flat tyres, as many as 20, were reported over race radio, Velo reporting that former world champion Mads Pedersen and Australian domestique Luke Durbridge were also affected.

Adam Hansen, president of the CPA, the association representing pro riders and recognised by UCI, also shared a message condemning the spectators' actions after yesterday's incident sent Cras home.

"It's sad when things like this happen. Please fans, if you're standing on the road, then your standing on a race track," he said.

Basque fans at Tour de France 2023 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Basque fans at Tour de France 2023 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

While the Tour has seen fantastic spectators so far, first in the Basque country in Spain, then in the Pyrennes and again today up until the Puy de Dôme, crashes due to poor judgement on fans' part is not new.

In the 2021 Tour, a spectator holding the now-infamous 'Allez Opi-Omi' sign caused huge crash in the front of the peloton, bringing down leaders and slowing the riders to a halt. The fan was later fined €1,200 by a French court.

> Spectator holding sign causes huge crash bringing peloton to a halt at Tour de France

In today's stage, a brave and solo Michael Woods from Israel-Premier Tech put up a legendary climb, a performance for the ages to bag the win on the coveted and iconic summit. He finished a staggering 28 seconds ahead of TotalEnergies' Pierre Latour, while Bahrain Victorious' Matej Mohoric rounded up the podium, a further 7 seconds behind.

In the GC contention, Slovenian Tadej Pogačar gained another crucial seven seconds over rival Jonas Vingegaard, who is still leading in the yellow jersey, but only by 17 seconds now.

Cras' withdrawal yesterday made him the sixth rider to abandon this Tour after Mark Cavendish, Enric Mas, Richard Carapaz, Jacopo Guarnieri and Luis Leon Sanchez. Today's stage also saw another DNS with Lidl-Trek's Quinn Simmons who was forced to leave the race after failing to recover from his injuries sustained in a heavy crash on stage 5. 

Results powered by FirstCycling.com

Tour de France 2023
2023 Tour de France
Lilian Calmejane
Steff Cras
Adwitiya Pal

Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after completing his masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Cymru, and also likes to write about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.

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8 comments

Avatar
Velophaart_95 | 1 year ago
1 like

No other major sporting event would accept competitors being taken out by spectators. Yet it happens nearly every year.......Time for teams to demand action, as it's not good enough.

Not that it would happen, but lets see how much passionate these fans are if there was a Euro15-20 charge to spectate.....

Avatar
Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
0 likes

The spectators fault or poor organisation and marshalling?

Whilst people in general are considerate there are alway a few who are willing to do something without thinking it through and others who are willing to follow. 
 

if you don't organise to prevent it surely you are partly at fault?

Avatar
AidanR replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
3 likes

I don't think that it's realistic to marshall every inch of the route each day. There will inevitably be gaps, leaving room for spectator stupidity.

Avatar
KDee replied to AidanR | 1 year ago
2 likes

I liked the way they extended the hoarding section for the Puy de Dome yesterday. But did you see the pinch point of fans it created? I don't get these people that feel the need to get so close, and even less so the ones who feel the need to touch the riders.

Avatar
nniff replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
2 likes

It's the same nonsense as baggage carousels.  Everyone stands right up against them with the net result that no-one can see a bloody thing

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to nniff | 1 year ago
1 like

nniff wrote:

It's the same nonsense as baggage carousels.  Everyone stands right up against them with the net result that no-one can see a bloody thing

That behaviour really snaps my cranks. Even worse is when there's a minimum distance line around the carousels that gets thoroughly ignored. I have on occasion bashed my baggage into people that stand too close to the carousel. What gets me is that there's no advantage gained by standing really close - it doesn't reduce the time taken until your baggage turns up.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
1 like

It would probably be economically and logistically unfeasible to barricade off all the climbs, especially on days where there are two or three HCs, but I wonder if the organisers could simply paint lines on the road marking the barrier for spectators? There are always a fair number of gendarmes standing around on the climbs and in my experience of French policemen they are always ready for a bit of action (that sounds highly dubious, I realise!); if it was made clear that anyone crossing the line on the road would be instantly grabbed and fined €500 that might help things considerably.

It wouldn't necessarily help with the people who bring along powder flares of course, but they could be simply dealt with by being shot on sight. Outrageous yesterday where some of the leaders were trying to pull their jerseys up to their faces to try to avoid breathing in that toxic crap.

Avatar
lonpfrb replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
2 likes
Rendel Harris wrote:

It wouldn't necessarily help with the people who bring along powder flares of course, but they could be simply dealt with by being shot on sight. Outrageous yesterday where some of the leaders were trying to pull their jerseys up to their faces to try to avoid breathing in that toxic crap.

Possession or use of Flares at any public gathering should be a public order offence since they are not designed to be used next to people nor athletes. Given the stupidity on show your suggestion may be required to get the attention of the perpetrators..

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