Maybe the best thing they could do is run the police cars on the sides of the riders as they ride, and then they can use their speakers to get the crowd to back off? That seems the way they were doing it at the Giro. In a situation like that, I also can't believe at least in the last 5 km, they can't put up the barriers. It looked as though the barriers were up only 2- 3 km from the finish. They can't find an extra 2- 3 km of barriers throughout all of France to protect the riders so they can at least ride unobstructed for the last few km to the finish? They can't find enough cops to patrol the area before the riders arrive? They can't have the announcers give warnings for the crowd to make way for the riders? It was clear that there was no way Armstrong could pass Basso- why not give riders the opportunity to attack with 5- 6 km to go? Wouldn't that make for a more exciting race? Even if they didn't care about the excitement, wouldn't it at least be safer for the riders? Sure, there haven't been many problems in the past, but why use that as an excuse to not do something preventative now? The idea is to prevent for something bad to happen, not wait for something bad to happen, then react. I would think they would try to be a bit more proreactive.
Seriously, whoever wins the race is fine with me. I would say this no matter who was leading. I felt bad for all those riders that had to ride through that mess. If I were in the same situation, I'd be pretty worried for my safety, and I'd be pretty upset that my path was being obstructed by fans, despite the good intentions of the fans.
Koffee