Originally Posted by
bbattle
It's tradition and while the vast majority of fans don't interfere with the riders, a few, mostly drunk, do get in the way.
The television cameras make it seem worse than it is.
The riders say the encouragement on the climbs helps as long as they stay out of the way.
When Lance hooked a bag and went down, he didn't blame the fan.
I have wanted to strangle some of the fans, though. And I've seen several riders pushing them away and one fool that got run over by a motorcycle.
Not that long ago near the finish of one of the major climbs the fans were so thick that the motorcycle leading the first rider could not force its way through. The interestig thing is once the rider puled out from behind the motor the fans gave him room.
I thnik it showed both the scope of the problem and how good the vast majority of the fans are.
And barriers and police is not always the answer, just ask Abdu.