Originally Posted by
CV-6
Sure it was a token fine strictly for face saving purposes. And I will wager Froome did not pay the fine. Would not surprise me if his fellow riders took up a collection to pay it. More likely his team paid it. Does not change the fact the fan endangered the riders and their future livelihoods. If the organizers are going to play that game, they need to do a better job of crowd control to justify levying the fine. The organizers are equally at fault for allowing the situation to exist.
I don't know who is at fault for allowing this to continue, but it's certainly not Chris Fromme. The people doing this crap are giant ass wads, and they deserve blame (and rider assaults) for being giant ass wads...but someone should also be protecting the riders from this behavior. City? State? Race organizers? I have no idea what their contract calls for...but SOMEONE should be held accountable for rider security.
Whether that's barricades, arrests, PSAs - or a mix of those factors, no sports fan or competitor wants drunken spectators impacting race results and hurting the athletes. I don't know who is responsible for race security, and I don't know if this gets tacit approval as a way of engaging fans, but someone needs to protect the athletes, and it's offensive that they'd fine a competitor for protecting himself when, seemingly, no one else is interested in doing it.
I don't care how long it's happened before - it takes away from the sport and it imperils the athletes. "We've allowed stupid crap for a long time" isn't a justification for allowing it to continue.
Say what you want about our legal system, but it certainly encourages risk analysis and you'd be very unlikely to see this regularly in a US sporting event. Risk of damages and law suits can be a very good thing
