Another Year, Another Fan Causing a Serious Crash at the Tour de France

It seems like every year, interactions between fans and racers get more and more dangerous. Organizers of the Tour even went so far as to release a video ahead of the race, educating spectators about how to avoid endangering riders. With half of the Tour de France in the rearview mirror, one rider has been taken out of the race, and Sunday’s stage saw yet another crash caused by a fan not paying attention to what was happening on course.

After being crashed out on Saturday, Belgian rider Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) was forced to abandon the race. He was sitting in 13th position in the GC, but according to his team, suffered serious contusions on his hip and elbow, though thankfully no broken bones. He said on Twitter: “When a spectator advances more than a meter on the road and does not move when the peloton arrives, it would be better if he stayed at home. You have no respect for riders. I hope you feel guilty. I have to leave the Tour because of you!”

Cras wasn’t the only rider to crash—the fan also took out the GC’s 4th and 11th place riders Simon Yates and Mikel Landa, who lost nearly a minute in the overall GC thanks to that incident.

Sadder still: The situation was repeated on Sunday’s stage when Lilian Calmejane of Intermarche was taken out by a fan tribute pole being waved on course. Impressively, after the crash, he was able to not only catch back up to the peloton, he moved into the race lead until six kilometers to go. His team tweeted that he’ll be able to continue the race, but added a plea to fans to be more cautious.

It’s hard to think of a more ironic situation, a fan so thrilled at being able to cheer on riders that they love, and then taking them out of the race entirely. Hopefully we won’t see any more of these incidents in the remaining weeks of the Tour

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