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So, what do we do with spectators?

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More than 90% of these people are not fans, they dont even know nothing about cycling. They just go to see the race as part of an entertainment. They drink, shout and bother cyclists. They dont matter the race or cycling, for them its just another entertainment. The most of the times, when I watch them on TV, I feel killing instincts.
 
Aug 31, 2012
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Re:

Fernandez said:
More than 90% of these people are not fans, they dont even know nothing about cycling. They just go to see the race as part of an entertainment. They drink, shout and bother cyclists. They dont matter the race or cycling, for them its just another entertainment. The most of the times, when I watch them on TV, I feel killing instincts.

That's the reality for all sports, not just cycling. It is also true of protests, for that matter.
 
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Ramira said:
lenric said:
Red Rick said:
CheckMyPecs said:
Red Rick said:
I think road cycling is too unique of a sport to look much at other sports.
Why?

Distances are too long to make barring of an entire climb logistically desirable.

I'd say just charge money to stand on the mountain. Use money to increase security.

The amount of security needed for that to happen is ginormous. It's a good idea, but I don't know if very doable.

I'm not so sure it takes a lot of security. There's usually only 2 ways to get on a climb, maybe a few more. Just block the road at a few crucial intersections and control who gets through. Sure maybe a few people will climb up to get around it, but that would be a minimal number.

Through immediate roads yes, but there are climbs where you don't have roads nearby (except the one being ridden obv), but a forest. People can get to the climb through the woods quite easily without being caught in a road block.
 
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Dazed and Confused said:
Without the spectators by the roadside (without fencing), this sport will suffer big times. Educating the broader fan base can be done much better.

Totally agree.
There is nothing like watching hordes of spectators part like the Red Sea when riders are approaching.
I think it is the best spectacle in sports. Nothing compares.
Alas, I didn't see today's stage, but I wonder if the crowd interference had something to do with the modified stage--i.e. cramming a ton of people who were waiting near the top into a relatively small space.
 
Hit them!

Honestly, what's up with people being more interested in getting on TV than, you know, what's cycling? Just take that idiot with the sign today! What the *** was he doing? :mad:
One thing that might help a tiny bit would be to instruct the camera-motos that whenever Someone acts like that they should simply lower the camera, so the idiot gets a minimum amount of TV time.

As for the barriers/lack of same: Sure, they can't put barriers everywhere, but you'd think they'd be able to put some up with 500 m to go.

SeriousSam said:
Fernandez said:
More than 90% of these people are not fans, they dont even know nothing about cycling. They just go to see the race as part of an entertainment. They drink, shout and bother cyclists. They dont matter the race or cycling, for them its just another entertainment. The most of the times, when I watch them on TV, I feel killing instincts.

That's the reality for all sports, not just cycling. It is also true of protests, for that matter.

In most sports people need to actually buy tickets to get close to the action.


the delgados said:
Dazed and Confused said:
Without the spectators by the roadside (without fencing), this sport will suffer big times. Educating the broader fan base can be done much better.

Totally agree.
There is nothing like watching hordes of spectators part like the Red Sea when riders are approaching.
I think it is the best spectacle in sports. Nothing compares.
Alas, I didn't see today's stage, but I wonder if the crowd interference had something to do with the modified stage--i.e. cramming a ton of people who were waiting near the top into a relatively small space.

Yeah. It's when people fail to part we have a problem.
 
Another thing I was thinking about where some sort of advertisement around the race to keep each other in line, or something like that. Being able to get so close to the riders is one of the greatest things of the sport, so using barriers too much won't be a good thing I think.
 
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Red Rick said:
Another thing I was thinking about where some sort of advertisement around the race to keep each other in line, or something like that. Being able to get so close to the riders is one of the greatest things of the sport, so using barriers too much won't be a good thing I think.
I think they already do that.
 
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Philosopher Porte with a nuanced opinion:
We love the fans and 99 percent of them are brilliant but why do some of them need to take their selfies and run along beside us? There’s passion and there’s stupidity and it’s not such a fine line between them.”
 
If the English can clean up their football hooligans of the 80s then cleaning up idiots getting drunk, taking selfies while running next to riders and causing mayhem on mountain top finishes should be easy. All it takes is planning and willpower.

The race organisers have been caught out by ill prepared unintended consequences of shortening the stage due to the winds. No way you get crowds like that in the final 3km of the summit of Ventoux. But the ridiculous number of motos is also a factor. It just adds to the congestion ahead of the riders.

The Tour de France is being damaged by its own popularity.
 
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yespatterns said:
Galic Ho said:
CheckMyPecs said:
Deploy a selfie inhibition field?
Put barbed wire all the way to the top?
Set up crowdfunding to pay for gendarmes every 5 metres?

The French races have been interesting the past few years.

Those who are there could comment, but are many people drunk?

If yes, ban ALCOHOL. If fans from certain nations are causing problems, ban them too.

In Italy and Spain when I started viewing the Giro and Vuelta, the mountains had many young men running around foolishly, getting too close to riders. They were also closer and seemed more likely to cause an incident than the Tour. The last 2 years, that's changed dramatically.

This was on the cards for a while now. The last two Tours I have been amazed at some passes, because if a rider wanted to attack, he'd have to literally ram through spectators. They DO NOT NEED TO BE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.

It's simple. Hire police or officials like they have in Italy and Spain and enforce more room. There is room, but these clowns think they can get super close. Technology and the need to selfie everything has played its own detrimental element to this.

I don't want to say arm the police, but give them battons and if a clown gets out of line, whack him. Give motorbikes the right to run people over. They should back up and show some respect. You can cheer from the side.

Why run people over? You cannot say do that without causing a problem...injuries, ambulance, medical staff, but stopping in the middle of the race and causing this catastrophe because of a pile up needs to be rectified and addressed!

It's poor people management. Go into the French media and state people will be arrested. Contact the French President, get him to tell people to grow up. It's the fans fault but the ASO have to manage this and their efforts are wanting. The fans should be shown that cheering is great, but LEAVE enough room. For years the riders in the mountains are given far too little room.

I heard Chris Froome's bike was stolen. As the camera panned away as he left it next to a motorbike, a young man in blue was suddenly moving straight toward it. That's $10K right there. And yet, nobody stopped him! I'd have flogged the crap out of him!! But that's a cultural thing and sorry, but if that's how Europeans act, then you lot need a good smack in the head and to be told to grow up. Act like adults and not drunken louts.

Get drunk at home or away from the road. If a sober person causes this crap, well yeah...into Andorra that person who stepped in front of George Bennett!! How could they not think straight!! He was clearly moving along, but that person stepped out...Andy Schleck no longer rides because a British fan in England did that. SO it is a national thing.

Oh sure...Aussie speaking; drivers of cars in this country try and run people over. Perspective talking here. If you don't want to show respect, don't go to watch the event. Control your kids, pets and your own self.

Also reduce the motorbikes. Into Andorra where were all the video cameras on the Froome, Quintana, Yates, Porte and Martin group? No where! Yet today after Froome and Porte lost time, there were bikes and video cameras PLUS extra ones for guys with digital cameras taking photos (not video) galore!! Sorry, too many. Reduce the volume. Also, the number of vultures at the finish with cameras...it's bad.

Barriers...simple. Logistics. They stuffed up. Admit it and improve for 2017. Fire somebody and scrap the French working week of 35 hours if that's the issue. Pay for more support. Stop thinking about profit and talk about security...

Simple stuff, but poor management lets this happen and REPEAT. If it repeats then some people need to be fired...

PS EDIT: I have heard some fans from certain nationalities are causing issues...maybe the Colombians, maybe some Dutch at times. Simple. Fine them and arrest anyone being a douche. They will stop. Ban alcohol from the mountains and they'll behave. Simple stuff. Do you want drunkness or racing? Choose. Do you want to be a tool or rider safety? Choose. Not hard to implement. It requires gumption and a back bone though because fans will have a whinge. It's about the riders safety.

You are broken inside. Is there a joke here I'm not getting?

No I am not.

A joke.

The serious side of this is simple. I gave you a very harsh and definite way to stop people. Force them. Europeans seem good at starting world wars...why not do it to the French again?

Sarcasm aside, something needs to be done.

An obvious police presence is needed LIKE what the Guardia Civil started to implement in the Vuelta. That stopped many of the men running alongside the riders in the high mountains at crucial points in the mountain finishes. That is what the Tour needs.

You missed me joking about Australia - it's quite common in the press and on social media for car drivers to DEMAND bike riders pay for registration. They are quite violent and passive aggressive. Many actually drive to intimidate bike riders, unlike European nations, where they are given right of way. However what is the result in pro cycling mountain stages with fans? The exact type of idiocy Australian car drivers show...zero respect for people riding bikes, or in this case, the riders racing in the mountains.

So how do you address what is a bizarre but obvious culturaly issue. Educate them. No, you don't beat them, but admitting behaviour has gotten too out of hand needs to be addressed, hence my sarcasm about Prudhomme and the French President doing something. Why go that far? Because it looks ugly and it makes France look like a joke.

Best race in the world is how the Tour is advertised, but far too often riders cannot actually race unhindered. They're just too polite to tell the fans to *** off. That might change if another incident occurs. It's the same with increasing incidents with motor bikes...a few strategic changes should be made.

Take the motor bike Porte hit. It was third or 4th in a convoy of bikes. Completely ridiculous and worse, it could allow motor pacing. Did anyone think of that? I did when the crash occurred. It should have been 20-30m minimum in front. Probably 40. But that is how bad the fans are getting...do you see that?

Prudhomme and ASO must act. The gendermerie should be making arrests. And yes, cut the alcohol allowance down. In Australia at Bathurst for the Bathurst 1000, up Mt Panorama they instituted a one cartoon of beer per person allowance. It helped curb drunken idiocy...people were taking 3-4 cartoons each up. That's 24 bottles of beer per cartoon.

I was also joking about the nationalistic vitriol some people have mentioned across social media. Is it too far fetched to believe some people may hate a rider and do something to them? A disgruntled fan of a rider from a particular nation who hates a rival? I don't think it's too far fetched...soccer/football fans go nuts over loses, why would cycling fans in an unregulated and open field of sporting competition be afraid of not doing something dodgy? They quite clearly could, should they be nasty and vindictive enough in mind to do so...it's a heart issue.

On a serious note, this is something I see a pattern to in France...it's getting worse, but has improved in Italy and Spain. It's simple...more barriers and rules for fans...police them. Not hard to fix and most people will follow suite. The issue with crowds is people follow the mob mentality and copy those around them. If half the climb are in your face, more will follow...and that's the pattern that has gotten out of control the last 2-3 years in the Tour.

Edit: that's one carton per person per DAY. Yep, they drink a lot for half a week of madness on the mountain. So I've seen it before, and it should be restricted because drunk people lack self control and decency.
 
When you cancel out the six KMs at the stage finish the night before, what do you expect? It's the Tour. They pushed probably over 100k people into an already overcrowded mountain. Ventoux is not Alpe d'huez, which is more suited for the crazy drunk spectators. Those people had been up there waiting for a week to get their spot, and then were forced six KM down the mountain.

It doesn't excuse the drunken debauchey but you can't plan a stage finish on Ventoux like you do on the alpe, especially in today's windy conditions. Prudhomme needs to realize that.
 
I don't think there is a lot they can do. Idiots with drink in them are not reasonable and put them together with other idiots it gets out of hand. Same with people that dress up and cannot see where they are going. You arrest 10 and there are 50 more that should have been arrested. They could use the publicity caravan to try and control people with public announcements but all of these things will only work on reasonable people not fools who I don't think are even watching the race, they just want to be seen on TV or taking photos of themselves.
 
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AICA ribonucleotide said:
Just ban people from the mountains. Simple.
I'd rather watch them race on an empty road with all the space in the world to attack than watch them go up 1 by 1 in a corridor.
That is truth, those spectators....no right to endanger, the tour racers and participants.
Straight up hooligans, no excuse, and embarrassment, to humanity.
 
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AICA ribonucleotide said:
Just ban people from the mountains. Simple.
I'd rather watch them race on an empty road with all the space in the world to attack than watch them go up 1 by 1 in a corridor.

I'd say the exact opposite. I'd rather the strongest rider lose a tour unjustly because of idiot fans, than watch a tour run on empty roads. The chemistry between mountain, riders and crazy fans is what makes the tour special.
 
Re:

AICA ribonucleotide said:
Just ban people from the mountains. Simple.
I'd rather watch them race on an empty road with all the space in the world to attack than watch them go up 1 by 1 in a corridor.

That would be a shame and weird for the riders but they have played football matches without spectators and once again it was because of the fans themselves and their behavior. Some spoiling it for everyone.
 
CheckMyPecs said:
Deploy a selfie inhibition field?
Put barbed wire all the way to the top?
Set up crowdfunding to pay for gendarmes every 5 metres?

I'm seriously fine with option 2. And if they manage to get through that, wrap them with barb wire and leave them on the side of the road.

Is there any other sport where spectators are allowed to touch the athletes, or enter the field of play, during the competition? Why does bike racing have to be different? You want to watch close, fine, but stay off the road and don't touch, and since some people are incapable of doing that, make sure that no one can.
 

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