Grasschopper

This clearly is a bit worse than the guy getting run over by the motorcycle...maybe they should have run this guy over too.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug...v=ap&type=lgns

RED*ARMY

I sometimes worry that a crazed fan will pull a knife or something and attack a rider, (eg: Tennis star Monica Seles in '93)

teamawe

Just what the media wants to see.

There are how many spectators at a TDF? Compare that to how many incidents? I'm thinking we are close to .00001% bad apple ratio here. There are however how many bad-luck incidents at a tour? (flats, getting clipped by a team car, crashes, going over a cliff, etc)

There are WAY more folks that slip and fall in the shower vs get hacked up like a pysco movie, the media would love you to think it was the other way-round.

DocRay

In France: Hey Jacques!, let's geev some drunk fans big, tick, bats as a promotion pour le tour de France..wat cud happeen?

Magnifique idee!

superdex

There is an interesting article in this month's Bicycling--an excerpt from Lance Armstrong's War I believe, which talks about the death threat and heightened security (and anxiety) around LA's mountain ITT run last year. Scary stuff, when you consider there's nothing, nothing stopping a spectator from wreaking havoc. I'm just amazed that the number of incidents are in the single digits each year....

plin

Fans are crazy in every sport. Look at hooligans in football (soccer for all the americans here), the incidents where NBA and MLB players charge the stands. Cycling is relatively safe in comparison for a sport where you can get to be that close to the players.

In reality, on the road of the tour, the most fanatic fans are Belgians, Germans and Basques (see the orange T-shirts in Pyrenees stages).

DocRay

I dunno, that guy in the football helmet with the longhorns and Texan flag seems to make Belgians seem like Toronto baseball fans (zzzz).

DocRay

There have been incidents of italian "fans" at the Giro throwing nails and glass down in front of riders.

But overall, cycling fans are much better behaved than most sports. Crazy bastards running screaming in speedos and an afro wig enhance the spectacle of the TDF.
The last thing we want is Golf fans.

va_cyclist

I'm surprised this hasn't happened more after watching spectators waving those big clapper things for two weeks.

But what kind of security does he expect? Erect 3,000 miles of roadside barriers? Metal detectors for 2 million people?

TheKillerPenguin

Build a bulletproof glass encasing on all the roads the riders will be on with the crowd on the outside. Maybe even put a couple of AC's in there to keep em cool. The cameras can ride on the roof and shoot down into the tube.

DocRay

Get the Office of Homeland security in on this as well, it would only cost a couple billion dollars to Texan companies (just take it out of the education budget), they could have a car in the glass tube following indicating the potential threat level of something, happening somewhere, but no details, "orange alert!"

RED*ARMY

OMG Those horns look dangerous!!! Steer clear!!! LOL

1955

(just take it out of the education budget)

Like this country needs more socialist teachers, the less the better!