Spectators on climbs - ASO Act Now!

[MartinGT]

Yesterday the idiots in fancy dress, the idiots not moving out of the way spoilt it for me somewhat.

Yes its all the fun of the race, but sooner or later its going to cause a large issue. We have seen it in the past, Armstrong on someone's purse (when Ligget the tit said it was his pedal).

When will the ASO recruit the army or the local police to control the growing crowds on the climbs? In the Giro we have seen the Army on the Zoncolan, so why cant the French do something similar?

Its embarrassing seeing grown men and women act like idiots running alongside the cyclist's it really is.

UCI/ASO need to act sooner, rather than later.

 

[hrotha]

They already do it. There are gendarmes and stuff, but the Tour just got too big.

Incidentally, that's why they programmed a bland flat stage on Sunday. Nobody here seemed to appreciate it.

 

[Captain_Obvious]

Yes, its only a matter of time before some idiot does something horrible, like deliberately push someone.

On the other hand, i understand that a part of cycling charm and tradition is the ease with which fans can get close to the riders and i certaintly dont want starile mountainstages with barbwire fences ().

What should atleast be done is setting examples. If there is a moron running along side a rider and causing irritaiton, i want the organisation to hammer down and make a point that its not accepted. The way its going now, people see no sanction in acting like fools and so they multiply every year.

 

[Anonymous]

To be honest, yesterday didnt seem nearly so bad as some of the scenes we have seen in the past. I remember multiple stages in the Pyranees were you couldnt even see the road in front for spectators.

yesterday seemed ok to me compared

 

[Kwibus]

To be honest, yesterday didnt seem nearly so bad as some of the scenes we have seen in the past. I remember multiple stages in the Pyranees were you couldnt even see the road in front for spectators.

yesterday seemed ok to me compared

If you can't see the road is better compared to non-stop running along of drunken idiots that also feel the need to actually touch a rider.

 

[spalco]

Is it really getting worse? I'm not convinced of that. And as long as it doesn't get physical I don't really have a problem with the spectators voicing their feelings about the riders too; would think someone like Voeckler has a thicker skin than that. Running along should be stopped though, there's nothing funny or entertaining about that.

 

[MartinGT]

There was a few stewerds and police at the lower parts, but they did nothing.

With the amount of Idiots (see Olso) about today we need to protect the riders IMO.

 

[LukeSchmid]

The crowds don't leave enough room to allow someone to attack. When there is barely enough room for one rider to get through with people waving there hands or things centimetres from the riders face, how are they supposed to get past. Yesterday we had the sight of Evans and Andy bumping shoulders and arms because there was not enough room for them to ride side by side.
The crowds are great but they need to realise that the road is for the riders to ride on not for them to stand on. My thought yesterday was instead of having one car ahead of the riders they needed two cars side by side or at least a motorbike beside the car to open a wider gap in the crowd.

 

[Pharazon]

i think the riders need better protection

 

[El Pistolero]

Just get rid of the Dutch

 

[Captain_Obvious]

Just get rid of the Dutch

here here.

 

[Irish2009]

When you've been drinking for 3 days before hand its east for the fans to get carried away, y/day the worst incident was a spectator with what looked like an umbrella, that made no effort to move and Contador had to swerve around him. Two outriders just in front of the riders might be a better solution, but riders are afraid that the motorbikes could be used for pacing. Fans running along beside the riders and in fancy dress are not really "fans" but morans.

 

[SirLes]

I can remember some pretty intense crowds when I first started watching in the 80's. A sea parting at the last second as the riders came by. I couldn't see how the riders knew where to go.

What has changed which makes it more dangerous IMO is the playing to the cameras, trying to take photos and general inattentiveness.


I get the feeling that for many in the crowd, getting a photo of themselves with the riders, a photo of the rider or themselves on TV is more important than supporting. similarly being there and enjoying the atmosphere before and after is more important than the race. The result is people not concentrating (or being too drunk to) on the riders.

Having said that, the bloke standing behind his bra-less girlfriend who lifted her T shirt whilst she waved enthusiastically at the riders and TV cameras was clearly a true connoisseur of the race!

 

[benpounder]

They already do it. There are gendarmes and stuff, but the Tour just got too big.

That bozo running in a black bikini got yanked aside by course security - I'm sure there were other similar instances that were not broadcast.

Incidentally, that's why they programmed a bland flat stage on Sunday. Nobody here seemed to appreciate it.

Do you have a source for this assertion?

 

[spalco]

What has changed which makes it more dangerous IMO is the playing to the cameras, trying to take photos and general inattentiveness.

I agree. It's not the crowds that are the problem, but the showboating.

You don't need a whole line of cops/soldiers on the road keeping back the people, but maybe just placing a cop every hundred metres or so would be enough to prevent the worst excesses.

 

[Benotti69]

I agree. It's not the crowds that are the problem, but the showboating.

You don't need a whole line of cops/soldiers on the road keeping back the people, but maybe just placing a cop every hundred metres or so would be enough to prevent the worst excesses.

i think the fans should keep the lunatics is line with a policeman every 100 metres on each side but staggered so that it would mean every 50 metres in case of trouble.

But more fans should grab the lunatics or the ASO should make a big scene of arresting some of the lunatics and broadcasting it so everyone sees it will be tolerated anymore.

I rarely saw Didi the devil this year and did not see 'Mooseman', in fact i dont want to see the fans close up and it would be good to blur them so they are not recognised. i saw lots on mobiles running obviously trying to get on live TV. pathetic.

 

[Apollonius]

Fans running along beside the riders and in fancy dress are not really "fans" but morans.

 

[TheOkram]

You might call me cruel or sadistic, but after years of watching those crazy people lining the mountain courses I do wish that a squad of these guys would be clearing up the path for riders:

 

[Dalakhani]

What has changed which makes it more dangerous IMO is the playing to the cameras, trying to take photos and general inattentiveness.

I get the feeling that for many in the crowd, getting a photo of themselves with the riders, a photo of the rider or themselves on TV is more important than supporting.

I agree.

That seems to be the big change over the last few years: (a) the photo takers not moving out the way, or facing towards riders going past them without thinking about the riders coming up to them and (b) the people who only seem to be there to get their face (or bum) on TV.

The fans crowding the road, but getting out the way is, IMO, part of the charm. (Makes it seem like the race belongs to the people, in some way.)

Steve

 

[Frosty]

I agree. It's not the crowds that are the problem, but the showboating.

You don't need a whole line of cops/soldiers on the road keeping back the people, but maybe just placing a cop every hundred metres or so would be enough to prevent the worst excesses.

Was on alpe d'huez yesterday and there seemed to be one or two police officers every hundred metres or so.

 

[jazzcyclist]

The Gendarmerie at the Tour de France seem to have the same attitude about crowd as the New Orleans Police during Mardi Gras in that they're willing to look the other way at moronic behavior and public intoxication since it's considered part of the charm of the event.

 

[Mrs John Murphy]

Has it ever really been so different - didn't Merckx get punched by a fan once?

I do think that the bigger problem is fans on flatter stages not paying attention. The TDS crash and the crash on stage 1 both involved fans and not on the mountains.

 

[mastersracer]

The Gendarmerie at the Tour de France seem to have the same attitude about crowd as the New Orleans Police during Mardi Gras in that they're willing to look the other way at moronic behavior and public intoxication since it's considered part of the charm of the event.

huh? They are pretty rough with the crowd. Police would get sued here in the US if they treated crowds like that. ALso, drivers of official cars are pretty aggressive with crowd control. Just too many people.

 

[SteveT]

several times on Eurosport I saw either gendarmes or security or whoever was wearing hi vis vests actually grapple a spectator and throw them back from the riders, so they are trying. I have not seen this before in the tour

 

[StyrbjornSterki]

It's a victim of it's own success. There's too many people who attend just because it's something famous/notorious to be part of, not because they're cycling fans. I've been to somewhere around 150 pro roadrace stages in the past 20 years and there's nowhere I feel the general disorder, the "Screw the rules, LET'S PARTY!" attitude among the fans like at the TdF.

And it's not just the "show-boaters," it's the tens of thousands AT EVERY STAGE who feel it is their right to share the roadway with the racers.

You might call me cruel or sadistic, but after years of watching those crazy people lining the mountain courses I do wish that a squad of these guys would be clearing up the path for riders:

Fifty people held at bay by one guy with a stick? What's wrong with this picture?