They must all be Californians...

[gregod]

Stuff like that makes me cringe.

...

I just don't want things to escalate. The bike riders will lose.

good point. i hadn't thought of that.

 

[Franklin]

The Dutch always are.

I'm dutch and I endorse this message!

 

[craig1985]

The Dutch always are. Want to hear some lovely stories from the 2000 Olympics? No you don't. Worst sports fans in the world, almost bested by the Germans and Poms. English boo their own, Dutch are just in your face ******bags. Dutch fans when in a rabid state are the scum of the earth. Pussies, the whole lot. Too bad if you don't like it Dutchies...go back to your dykes and grow the F#$K up. Want proof? Do they do this on their own? Nope, mob mentality. On their own they are charming, lovely. Get them together and the mob mentality takes roost.

These clowns ruin races, not just the Dutch nutters but the idiots in every country in every GT. Being within a foot or two of a riders face is BS. If you did that crap in Australia, you'd end up in hospital...so to the European goofballs, how about you cowards man up? Oh I forgot...you don't know how. SSDD, as proven by the 20th Century. Typical behaviour of cowards and bad sports. Cheat, poor sportsmanship...heck they'll even complain when you call them out. But never, not once, when you challenge them to their face, will they stand their ground. They back away like the pussies they are. Hence why soccer and it's rigged diving theatrics is the biggest sport in Europe. A sport practiced sadly by pussies. Proof of cowardice right there. I'm waiting for the day a rider gets knocked down and turns around and flogs the crap out of the tool who did it.

ASO and RCA need to get volunteers who have the ability to on the spot fine you. More barriers. There is literally no place until the last few kms for an inclined rider to attack. Literally no room, because these tools think they have the right to get in your face. As I said...cowards, the lot of them.

Galic Ho you should be a diplomat.

 

[sublimit]

The Dutch always are. Want to hear some lovely stories from the 2000 Olympics? No you don't. Worst sports fans in the world, almost bested by the Germans and Poms. English boo their own, Dutch are just in your face ******bags. Dutch fans when in a rabid state are the scum of the earth. Pussies, the whole lot. Too bad if you don't like it Dutchies...go back to your dykes and grow the F#$K up. Want proof? Do they do this on their own? Nope, mob mentality. On their own they are charming, lovely. Get them together and the mob mentality takes roost.

These clowns ruin races, not just the Dutch nutters but the idiots in every country in every GT. Being within a foot or two of a riders face is BS. If you did that crap in Australia, you'd end up in hospital...so to the European goofballs, how about you cowards man up? Oh I forgot...you don't know how. SSDD, as proven by the 20th Century. Typical behaviour of cowards and bad sports. Cheat, poor sportsmanship...or the day a rider gets knocked down and turns around and flogs the crap out of the tool who did it.

Another endorsement for that message.
The Aussie Open tennis seems to be full of idiots also? Serbs or Ex Yugoslavs or whatever.. Annoying jackasses.

T Voekler was right to tell the Dutch corner "fans" to **** off, the best thing he did all day yesterday

 

[movingtarget]

Another endorsement for that message.
The Aussie Open tennis seems to be full of idiots also? Serbs or Ex Yugoslavs or whatever.. Annoying jackasses.

T Voekler was right to tell the Dutch corner "fans" to **** off, the best thing he did all day yesterday

I am surprised he had the energy........still showing the fighting spirit !

 

[spalco]

Nah, that's a UFC quality spinning backfist!

I disagree, I think it's a closed-fisted "*****-slap" actually, which also had the additional advantage of providing some forward momentum for Contador. A right hook for example would have slowed him down.

 

[greenedge]

Best moment. If Cadel lost heaps of time today and dropped out of contention i would have wanted Contador to ride away from Andy. He is a fighter and this pic is the best.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Merged the two similar threads.

I think the doctor fan with AC was being pretty cheeky, I mean amusing , with that costume. But to get that close was just idiotic and rude. He got what he deserved.

At least the Levi guy with the antlers is staying out of the riders way.

 

[danjo007]

good one bertie. NO ONE should touch the riders! no matter how funny they think they are.

what will happen when someone falls infront of a vehicle and gets killed? its only a matter of time. this is getting worse.

 

[gregod]

I am surprised he had the energy........still showing the fighting spirit !

did you see him screaming at his guys on the galibier to slow down because they were dropping him?

 

[Kwibus]

There were more people than Americans. There were Basques, Aussies, Dutch and of course the French. It's good that they are't booing Contador anymore either.

Some french were booing Contador at the 1k to go mark.
Not sure they were french, but some people were booing him.

 

[Galic Ho]

Galic Ho you should be a diplomat.

No. Oh god no. Went to Canberra in year 6 for an excursion. Went to parliament. I won the Paul Keating award that trip. Go figure. For those who don't know he was our Prime Minister at the time. Me a diplomat...well there are perks and freebies right?

I only have a problem with mob mentality drunken louts interrupting sporting competitions. Nationalites don't matter, but sadly get certain groups drunk, put them together and ALLOW them access with a few feet of the sportsmen/women and disturbing behaviour happens. No consideration for the athlete. Some nations when you get them into mobs are really, really bad. Some hold no sympathy, like the Dutch with Voeckler. Anyone who has been to the tennis in Melbourne in January knows what I am talking about. People get nasty when in nationalistic oriented mobs. Europe is full of nations, creeds and racial lines with bad history. One doesn't need to given them a green light to be a tool...sports do that. Mostly soccer.

I don't get why they can't behave like the normal decent individuals at the top of the mountain? Oh that's right...mob mentality. I wouldn't have a problem with the large groups if they didn't impede the racing...which they appear to far more often than I use to remember. Cadel and Andy barely had enough room to talk to one another...that is ridiculous. They should have had right of way. Worse, the lack of room prohibits attacks in certain places. I'm hoping Prudhomme takes note and does something next year. First time I've ever seen a race director yell at fans was this race...seen him do it multiple times in the Alps. I can imagine the tears and complaints when barriers become mandatory and hired security a necessity.

To the Aussies running along like idiots on mountain finishes (they are easy to spot), thanks for waving the flag! Not! How more incidents don't happen is beyond me. Don't think I hate fans...I don't. Heck if I was riding I'd slap the battery mascot on the **** when I pass him or high 5 the guy. Heck I'd try and steal the Devils pitchfork! But when your HR is 170 BPM and your running out of gas, someone a foot or two from your face every second is absurd. There needs to be a line drawn. That guy AC punched is lucky I didn't hit him. I have a lot more upper body strength than these riders.

 

[Galic Ho]

Stuff like that makes me cringe.

Yeah, the fans get way too close and everyone has a breaking point, but in my mind both Armstrong and Contador were pushing their luck.

At the end of the day, you still have a 150 to 160 pound rider, on a bicycle, at his limit, heading uphill at a pace slow enough to be flanked by spectators. Drunk spectators. Spectators who probably outweigh a 160 pound rider by 40 or 50 pounds.

The last thing we need is a drunken idiot deciding that a swat from a rider is justification for a full-on right cross, or a shove that takes both bike and rider off the road.

Knocking a chubby syringe-wielding kid down, or swatting a moron dressed as a dope doctor AS HE'S TRYING TO TAKE A PHOTO is one thing. Hitting an inebriated corn-fed twenty-something farmboy who outweighs you by 50% might not be the best idea.

I've seen plenty of guys at the side of the road who, while certainly respecting Hinault's *****, would still laugh, spit out a tooth, and then lay into him like there's no tomorrow.

I just don't want things to escalate. The bike riders will lose.

One of the trainers at my gym, takes the RPM classes is in his early to mid 30s. Maximum weight is 65 kilos but he looks like he is 60. That's 145 pounds max weight. Looks the same build as most of these riders even in terms of upper body strength. If he got knocked off a bike and needed to deck someone he could. No problem. Fit person vs fat unfit drunk lout. Easy fight. I've seen some of the kettle bell exercises he does, he'd take most people out quite easily. Most fit trained people will.

At my fittest I'm the same weight, but with the training I do, lots of boxing related work, if I took a swing at you riding past (quick back hand or flying elbow) I'd draw blood no problem. I'd actually do quite a lot of damage. Now I'm of course ignoring the ability of the riders to swing a punch and connect. Not everyone fights like Hinault.

 

[Galic Ho]

I'm dutch and I endorse this message!

Oh I'm sorry. Did I offend you? Did I say you specifically? No. I said a certain group of Dutch people when you put them in a group behave like a rabid pack of wild dogs. History and personal experience have taught me they do...in rare and extreme situations however, sadly always within the field of sports.

So you don't think a mob of 50 plus drunken nationalistic guys standing on a corner abusing a rider who beat their nations boy is appropriate and justified? It's cowardly, nothing more. Same for any other mob, regardless of semantics used to describe and classify them. That's what I thought. I made a distinction. It's your choice whether you choose to classify yourself with such a body of people, hence me making a distinction. That's the choice part. I didn't say ALL DUTCH are ALWAYS THAT now did I? Once again someone sees what they think is a slight on ALL people associated with one descriptory word on this forum and get all upset. Sorry, wasn't what I was trying to do.

 

[hrotha]

Do you know what "endorse" means?

 

[Galic Ho]

Another endorsement for that message.
The Aussie Open tennis seems to be full of idiots also? Serbs or Ex Yugoslavs or whatever.. Annoying jackasses.

T Voekler was right to tell the Dutch corner "fans" to **** off, the best thing he did all day yesterday

Sorry I'd have quoted you before. You are referring to Aussies, who are Aussies every day of the week...except when someone from their parents land of birth turns up and then they jump on their historical homelands support/bandwagon. Suddenly they are Aussie slash some other immigrant minority despite have never, ever set foot in their parents land of birth. Dutch living in Australia are fantastic...I know some. It was the Dutch tourists during the Olympics who pushed the acceptable boundaries of sportsmanship a bit too far.

The Lebanese are the worst here in Australia when upholding foreign patriotism...for a reason. No it isn't racial. Every other immigrant group calls themselves Australians...but lots of Australian born kids of Lebanese descent do not. That annoys and confuses many people here, given tons of immigrants came to Australia in the 1950s and are Australian in everything they do. NO, they will never give you a logical argument on why they think they way you do...I've never heard one. But that isn't a sports issue nor a mob mentality...totally different.

What you described can be typically found in football matches with visiting teams in Australia, but most commonly the tennis. Before the socer A-League came up, all the old NSL teams were racially oriented. Not good given the composition of a team was derived from the suburb in Sydney/Melbourne it came from and those suburbs are statistically made up of a predominant ethnic background. Said ethnic background have strong history mounting from events outside Australia, aka, lots of Slavic, Balkan, Mediterranean discontent. Serbs and Croats mostly. Sometimes the Greeks have a few tussles with somebody their ancestors whooped. Normal, every day Australians except for when a particular sporting event places their team against an ethnic rival. Always a mob mentality. Difference is at the tennis they get booted out in Melbourne and ridiculed by everyone else on tv. Always, always teenage and 20 something year old men.

Oh and they never, ever, ever pull that crap on average Australian league or AFL fan. They'd never get away with it as I said. You'd do it once, learn your lesson and never come back a second time. As I said, individually, lovely normal people, put them in a group and the potential to get ugly quickly increases exponentially with the increase in volume and numbers.

 

[The Sheep]

To be honest I did laugh when a french rider got booed for once.