Tour de France chaos as huge crash caused by selfie-taking fan wipes riders out

16 July 2023 , 12:56

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There was a huge pile-up of riders after one cyclist went down

A spectator has caused a huge crash during stage 15 of the Tour de France by trying to take a photograph of the riders.

Live footage showed a fan sticking an arm out in an attempt to take a photo. Jumbo-Visma rider Sepp Kuss made contact with the spectator and fell at the front of the peloton, triggering a huge crash during a tight section of the famous race.

The crash caught up riders including Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny).

Jumbo-Visma rider Nathan Van Hooydonck went down particularly heavily and was seen sitting on the floor for some time to recover. The Belgian rider did manage to get back up and continued and it is not believed there were any serious injuries.

The spectator's arm caught a rider (ITV)

The crash happened with 128km left of stage 15, which goes from Les Gets les Portes du Soleil to Saint Gervais, Mont Blanc, in the south-east of France.

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The crash was the second in two days during the Tour de France, with several riders forced to drop out on stage 14.

Spain's Antonio Pedrero, Colombia's Esteban Chaves, South Africa's Louis Meintjes, and Portugal's Ruben Guerreiro abandoned the race following a nasty crash early on. Britain's James Shaw and France's Romain Bardet later abandoned the race after a separate incident.

Cycling fans were furious that a careless spectator had triggered such a dangerous crash.

Former England rugby star Brian Moore tweeted: "I'm not sure what you can do about it, but the idiocy of photo-taking spectators in the Tour de France never ceases to amaze."

"Another moron trying to make it about them (with a selfie this time) causes yet another crash at the Tour de France," one cycling fan tweeted. "Go, watch the the race, but keep a distance and let them actually do their job safely - it's a dangerous enough for them as it is."

A second added: "Once again a spectator caused a huge crash at the Tour de France. Race organizers not doing anything about crowd control remains a complete joke."

"Spectators touch a rider or show off running alongside should be massive fine, cause a crash some jail time," suggested one fan. Another agreed: "It’s about time they started getting prosecuted."

Felix Keith