Anthony Farris
The first stage of the Tour de France has quickly turned into the Tour de Dumb Fan after a spectator held a sign in front of riders causing a large pileup. You can watch the sign-holding idiot’s actions here:
Première étape du Tour de France, premier crash, premier partisan à blâmer pic.twitter.com/6i3yhBtwv7
— Julien Lamoureux (@julienlamoureux) June 26, 2021
The crash-causing sign read, Allez Opi-Omi!” or “Go Grandma and Grandpa!”. The message doesn’t have quite the same staying power as a poster board with “Austin 3:16” sharpied across it, but the end result of asses being kicked is the same.
Saturday marked the first day of the Tour, which runs through July 18th and schedules time for just two rest days. One rider in particular will likely receive an unscheduled day (or days) of rest after taking the worst of the fan-held sign mishap. Tony Martin, a four-time world time trial champion was on the receiving end of the sign, becoming the first rider to make contact with the cardboard message, sending him to the pavement and causing numerous other riders to hit the deck.
A short time later, with just over 6 miles remaining in the first stage, a second crash occurred, sending additional riders to the ground. Dumb-fan signage was not to blame for the day’s second accident.
Admittedly, the Tour hasn’t been all that exciting since Lance Armstrong got off the juice, stopped dating Sheryl Crow and quit lying. But fan-caused pileups just may be the injection the Tour de France needs to generate some buzz.
They’re still doing that? I thought they gave up when they had to get down to 8th place before they found someone that they couldn’t prove cheated?
I used to really follow this before Landis and Armstrong ruined it for me.
Anthony, thank you for the coverage. This is my number one favorite sporting event.
Yes AF posts some good stuff and he doesn’t slam VIPs with stupid snarky comments about their posts great work AF
They take their cycling very seriously in Europe. This is, after all the Tour de France. The knucklehead with the cardboard sign and the wanna be famous act is in deep yogurt. The authorities, aided by the citizens will hunt her down. She just may be crucified, we shall see, but methinks the cycling fans will want her head on a pike. It is after all a long time tradition in Europe. Here in America we “string em up”. The Europeans are not so nice.