Spectators Running Alongside Riders on Climbs

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Jan 23, 2013
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Stage 2 this year was bizarre. Riders were nearly brought down by a fan chasing his hat. Then a little dog almost caused a massive crash.

Much respect to the riders who held their lines to avoid that dog.

Much disrespect to the fan who brought his dog, without a leash, to the race. The tour passes a single point on the road for less than a minute on a flat stage(breaks and stragglers aside). There have been well publicized crashes involving dogs. The answer is so simple - use a leash!

As for fans running along-side? There is no cure for stupid and there is no cure for crazy. Mix stupid and/or crazy with a lot of booze and you get a mess of a human.

Barriers all the way up the climbs seems a bit excessive and ugly. Barriers are only so effective, as Hushovd's stitches from a few years back would attest.

Perhaps a car or van in the preceding caravan with a huge sign reading "If you interfere with the race, run along-side, or act like a jack-*** in any other way you will be jailed for a couple of days" might help.

Double rows of barriers to put space between the sprint finishers and the crowd would help in the finale of flat stages.

Until then, we can all just hope for the best and tolerate the kooks.
 
Jul 23, 2009
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Carlo Algatrensig said:
It looked to me like he ran into a sign being held up by a little girl so hopefully it'll teach him to not run alongside riders while not looking whats in front of him
Watch Dad's right hand switch from clapping to a right cross.
 
Jul 23, 2009
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Alpechraxler said:
No that is the wrong answer. Leave the dog at home or in the car.
Not in the car in July. Quick way to kill the dog. No problem having a dog on the leash so long as you control it.
 
Jun 12, 2010
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pedaling squares said:
Not in the car in July. Quick way to kill the dog. No problem having a dog on the leash so long as you control it.

I agree with you on the car part but not on the leash. Just leave them at home.
 
Jan 23, 2013
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Either way would work. The bottom line is - Keep your dogs off the road, always, and especially if there is a bike race on.
 
Jan 23, 2013
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A few years back, two riders were actually shot during the race...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-hurt-in-tour-de-france-shooting-1751554.html

Striking workers have stopped the race more than once, going so far as to throw "stink bombs" at the riders.

Bernard Hinault has cleared the podium of imposters more than once to remove *******s from the festivites of the Tour. Google image search "Bernard Hinault push" for some great pics of the Badger in action.

It's a public sport. The venues for the races are almost always open to the public. Some members of the public are complete *******s. The inevitable is that there will be *******s who emerge from the shadows and show their true nature.
 
Jul 17, 2009
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The Antler guy at TOC etc...say what you want Dude is the fittest of all the wack jobs on either continent running along side.
 
Off course, they should never hinder or touch the riders, but the annoying running fan is an important and sometimes hilarious part of cycling and im quite surprised with all this grumpiness.

38ef3b36ac29d395f3358ceeaf1a368b.jpg
 
Mar 10, 2009
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Boeing said:
The Antler guy at TOC etc...say what you want Dude is the fittest of all the wack jobs on either continent running along side.

I still want to see a rematch of Antler guy vs Flecha :D
 
Mar 10, 2009
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melkemugg said:
Off course, they should never hinder or touch the riders, but the annoying running fan is an important and sometimes hilarious part of cycling and im quite surprised with all this grumpiness.

38ef3b36ac29d395f3358ceeaf1a368b.jpg

I'm thinking that double syringe in place of a pitchfork has to be one of the iconic images of the whole saga in that picture.
 
Spectators Running Alongside Riders on Climbs

.. should be taken out back and shot!


Dangerous and idiotic. Not to mention completely disrespectful. Attention *****s the lot of 'em.

but the annoying running fan is an important and sometimes hilarious part of cycling
No! It's just silly people taking advantage of the production to get their face on TV. The "end all and be all" of this day and age apparently.

(ok, getting morning coffee now)
 
Aug 12, 2009
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Netserk said:
If I was a rider, I'd punch them at every opportunity.

One got coat hangered last night by another spectator. Was on the climb about 70 something to go with the breakaway. EDIT: Yeah that was the video footage of it a few pages back. Was funny as!!

Was hilarious. Camera went past, but just to the right hand side of the screen I saw an elbow extend (correction, fist, but it happened so quickly, doesn't matter, idiot stopped) and the person hit the deck. Been waiting a long time for that to happen.

The dog on stage 2...beyond stupid. The French aren't too bright at times. ;)
 
Did anyone see yesterday, near the top of a climb in the middle of the race when a fan cold-cocked another fan with an elbow? This guy was running alongside the break and came up on a guy with a red shirt and the red shirt guy just absolutely drops him with an elbow. Total clothesline. Loved it.

At around 1:54 in the NBCSports broadcast if you have it recorded. :)
 
Aug 16, 2011
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red_flanders said:
Did anyone see yesterday, near the top of a climb in the middle of the race when a fan cold-cocked another fan with an elbow? This guy was running alongside the break and came up on a guy with a red shirt and the red shirt guy just absolutely drops him with an elbow. Total clothesline. Loved it.

At around 1:54 in the NBCSports broadcast if you have it recorded. :)

It's the reason this thread got bumped, posted on last page.

Pretty funny, see, there are good fans out there. :D

Viking said:
It looks like a spectator didn't care for this guy running alongside the riders on today's TdF stage...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqG9Y6vhAdk

Maybe it was just an accident :cool: