A wicked collision just occurred at the Tour De France and it was all thanks to a dumb fan.
In the 30th mile of the 15th stage of the race (I don’t know cycling very well, apparently there are 21 stages in the Tour De France whatever that means), an unsuspecting fan whipped out their phone to take a selfie. The fan’s arm made contact with American biker Sepp Kuss, causing him to lose balance and take a spill. Multiple cyclists behind Kuss couldn’t get out of the way, leading to a massive pile up of over 15 bikers.
Luckily, there were no serious injuries, just some minor bumps and bruises.
When asked about the interference, Kuss didn’t seem too unhappy calling it “part of the Tour.” However, race leader Jonas Vingegaard took a more serious stance on the matter, asking fans “to cheer for us without standing on the road or pouring beers on us.”
This isn’t the first time an incident like this has happened. Back in 2021, an even larger collision occurred at the legendary Tour De France also caused by an oblivious fan. In this accident, a spectator was holding a sign rather than a cell phone when he inched too close to a cyclist, causing a monstrous wave of crashes.
While the fans are definitely to blame the most for their carelessness and lack of awareness, you’d think the Tour officials would be smart enough to move the spectators a bit further away from the action. I understand fans want a great view and riders appreciate an exciting atmosphere, but clearly there’s problems with this setup. Two identical collisions in three years needs to lead to some sort of change. I mean the fans are literally on top of the riders. If a fix isn’t implemented soon, cycling may have just as many problems with CTE as the NFL.
