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willbick said:The worry is it may be only a matter of time, the way things are going, before 'fans' of certain riders start to deliberately interfere with their rivals
jsem94 said:If I ever find myself on a Col, Mont or Passo - I'll make sure to trip up anyone who tries running alongside the cyclists.
Race Radio said:Supposedly the Italian Police are looking for the guy in the World Championship jersey and want to charge him with interfering with a sporting event
scholar said:Rui Costa can't be that hard to find, can he? But has he ridden in Italy this year?
RedheadDane said:I can't actually participate in this suggestion myself, mainly because I'm not on Twitter.
But what if, every time someone sees an idiot running alongside the riders or something like that they take a picture of said idiot, and post it on Twitter (or Instagram) with the hashtag #Idiot (or #morron, or something like that)?
With my understanding of Social Media there is a fair chance that the picture will eventually be seen by the idiot themself.
willbick said:The worry is it may be only a matter of time, the way things are going, before 'fans' of certain riders start to deliberately interfere with their rivals
the sceptic said:I propose that touching a rider should be illegal and anyone who does it should be identified and given a hefty fine. And also spread those army people or whatever it is more evenly instead of having everyone on the top.
wirral said:Everyone could be looking at this the wrong way round.
Why do people do this?
The Factors:
1. They can. They have access to the course
2. It is fun.
3. They are drunk.
4. They get on tv.
5. It is exciting to get up close to a famous athlete.
6. It is daring.
7. There are no negative consequences.
8. They mistakenly believe they are encouraging and helping the rider.
9. They get so over-excited they cannot help themselves.
10. They are being a pain in the **** deliberately.
How many of these factors can be eliminated or significantly reduced? This is the key.
Christian said:ASO made a new clip again this year I see, with Kittel for example (see article on front page). They already showed it during Paris-Nice on French TV, with the same images but with Voeckler doing the voice over. A good initiative
RobbieCanuck said:I was at the 1992 TDF at Alpe d'Huez. There was one million people from Bourg d'Oisons to the summit. It is impossible to fence off the whole route. We got to our spot at 9:00 a.m. and most of the people around us (French, Italians, Dutch etc.) were drunk by noon. It is a spectacle of huge proportions and it would be impossible to police, identify offenders, apprehend them, identify them and issue tickets. There simply are not sufficient gendarmes
Besides which it was at the top where the barriers for the last 3 km worked really well.
IMO what would work is the regular aficionados who attend year after year and who appreciate and understand the race police the jerks. Sort of like a neighbourhood patrol. I recognize this also has a downside as power can sometimes be abused, but if organized properly it would work.
timmers said:Where were you Robbie as I rode up at noon after having new forks fitted to my bike. Apart from Dutch corner which was mild I thought back then was good. The other years I have been up there just got worse especially when the 99'rs started turning up! Interestingly they barrier the Champs so I suspect the French could barrier the Alpe which would be good.
One question though is why do spectators stand on the inside of a corner? You see less and get in the road!
Archibald said:Secondly the camera bikes - ride them slightly to the side of the riders instead of directly in front. This would naturally clear the sides of the roads, and it'd have to be a VERY thick person to step back from the bikes then go straight back to be in front of the riders, no?