Cyclists in the Tour de France halted the entire race for one minute Tuesday to protest dangerous riding conditions.
At the start of Stage 4 of the race, the peloton rode at a leisurely pace for about one kilometer and completely stopped once it hit the one-kilometer mark, video showed. After staying still for a minute, the riders moved again. The protest followed crashes in Stage 1 and Stage 3 that sent riders tumbling to the ground.
“I think it was a bad day for cycling,” Belgian cyclist Philippe Gilbert said in a YouTube video he posted Monday after completing Stage 3. “We don’t like to see crashes, it’s a bad image, and sadly we at Lotto Soudal are impacted. We are all sad tonight, but we hope for better days ahead.”
TOUR DE FRANCE TO SUE WOMAN WHO CAUSED CRASH DURING FIRST STAGE
A portion of the course toward the end of the race was too narrow, which caused riders to crash, Gilbert said. His teammate, Caleb Ewan, broke his collarbone in the fall. Before Stage 3, riders requested the Tour de France allow official times to be recorded at five kilometers from the finish line in an effort to avoid crashes in the risky final portion, but their request was denied.
The crash that took out Ewan was one of three that riders experienced in the third stage. The first two were caused by poor piloting on the part of the cyclists, Gilbert said in his video.
The most notable crash of the race was caused by a spectator who got too close to the track during Stage 1, clipping German cyclist Tony Martin with her sign and causing him to fall off his bike, taking dozens of cyclists with him. There were no guardrails separating fans from cyclists at that part of the race.
The woman, who will face a lawsuit from tour organizers, is currently on the run from police. After causing the crash, the unidentified woman fled the scene and reportedly boarded a flight to Germany before police could stop her, according to the local outlet Ouest France. A second crash occurred during the first stage, however it was not caused by a spectator.
A fan caused a huge crash at the Tour de France today that took down a large group of riders in the first stage
(via @NBCSSports)pic.twitter.com/1r7ZROEGzD
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 26, 2021
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The race’s organizers did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
