Annoying spectators at Giro
 

I was watching a replay of Stage 12 and, I could not believe the spectators. They were so bad that, when one spectator ran up to Danilo Di Luca who had the Pink Jersey and tapped him twice on the arm, he almost decked the spectator.

I wish he had because, professional cyclists don't need to deal with that garbage.:mad:

Several times the tour vehicle behind him had to honk, to get the spectators off the course.:mad: The race organizers need to work better at keeping the spectators off the course.:mad:

Right around the time that a spectator tapped Danilo Di Luca on the arm, there was another spectator that was trying to run with him. This spectator had a helmet on, with antlers the size of a full grown moose. I thought the spectator was going to poke him with the antlers.

I haven't watched any of the footage of the Giro, but it doesn't sound any worse than many of the other professional races I have seen lately.

Some of the TdF climbs look almost impassable with spectators crowding the road, and the Tour of California had one memorable moment when Lance had to reach out and nudge a spectator out of the way into a snow bank that was running along side the peloton at a tight spot. It also had several moments where people ran in front of riders instead of beside them.

Unfortunately, it only takes 1/1000 of the people along the route to decide to try to outdo those they've seen on TV, and it will keep escalating.

I agree with Chris. The guy with the antlers is a huge idiot. If you see a pic of the guy, you will see how much space of the road he is taking up with those antlers glued to his football helmet. Just wait. There will be an accident one of these days caused by these morons.

I do agree with the dude with the antlers. One race I saw he was running ahead of the riders and not spectating whatsoever. He had his eyes straight up the road, head back, like he was in a race of his own. Obviously all he wants to do is get on TV and doesn't care about the racing. If you watch the European races most of those folks run next to the riders yelling encouragement (or discouragement I suppose, but that's rare). This thing of running ahead of the riders and missing the race entirely is weird.

OTOH, have you guys ever actually been to a big-time bike race? It's really cool being able to get within such close proximity of the stars. And all they do is come by once so being able to run beside the break gives you a longer spectating window. It's super cool. And the atmosphere is amazing. Completely different from sitting in the stands in a stadium.

Part of the problem is the Lance factor. We Americans have a unique (or at least uniquely-strong) hunger for publicity. So we see The Devil and everyone want to be The Devil. So that produces some uniquely obnoxious fans - the dude with the Antlers is an American. The European fans can certainly be obnoxious and especially obnoxiously over-served but that's been pro bike racing forever. The American fans, unfortunately, have stepped it up a notch. Plus we're just not very good at it - there were less spectators for the ToC but they sure created more havoc compared to the Giro. I think it's fair to say that every American (obviously there are always exceptions to everything) is either a Lance fan or an anti-Lance fan. Once he's retired for good the situation will get better.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not blaming Americans entirely. In fact the "problem" is mostly a European one. A fan ended Merckx's TdF run in 1975 with a punch long before any American had even heard of the race. We just seem to have stepped things up a bit and are really lousy (or good? depends on point of view) at cycling hooliganism.

But this sort of thing has always been part of pro cycling and is one of the things that makes cycling uniquely wonderful in the world of pro sports.

Chris

edit: here's a picture of that moron on Universal Sports this morning. DUDE - The race is behind you! BEHIND YOU!

They all want to be as famous as the devil guy

i've seen the guy in action at the ATOC. when i've seen him he's not as close to riders as i keep hearing from guys watch grainy internet clips in their cubicles.

this is bike racing guys. you never know when you'll ride off a ravine or get your rear wheel clipped.

i don't hear the pros whining nearly as much about the antler guy as their cubicle-bound counterparts. HTFU....it's gonna be all right :D!

ed rader

Goes back even farther and nastier.

1950:
Kübler wins after the Italian withdraw: Another controversial Tour saw Bartali punched to the ground and threatened with a dagger on the Col d'Aspin. He got up to win the stage, and then withdrew, with all his teammates, claiming their lives were in danger.

In fact all his teammates means all Italians. At that point it was national teams and Itally had an A and B team. Both withdrew. This included both the leader at the time and the race favorite.

Mostly he's just annoying. He's not close to the riders at all - he's too busy running in front of them trying to get on TV. Mostly he's just a tool. It funny because when he finally stops running the riders go by and he doesn't even look at them!

Not sure what you mean by grainy clips in my cube - I've been watching the Giro in HD on a 52" plasma......and that dude Di Luca smacked was close enough to....well.....smack!

I think those that televise the pro races need to take the stance that the US networks have taken...

Fans that interfere (even potentially) with the game are not shown... If the networks hadn't taken this step, you would see a lot more people running across baseball and football fields for their few seconds of glory. Now you just see the commentators as they let you know that they are getting some jerk off the field.

As far as bike racing, the Devil stays to the side of the road... the morons referred to here need to do the same. Whether they interfere with the riders or not, they interfere with my enjoyment of the race. ;)

And as far as the earlier comment about it increasing the amount of time of the fans to observe the riders, that is bunk (at least for "antler guy", and his counter-part "longhorn guy", and several others) since they aren't there to watch, they are there to be seen. And also, how about the fact that it interferes with the other fans' right to see the riders without some oaf running in front of them? They took the time to pick a good spot too... And I don't think a person running along is able to really watch the race anyway... they are probably more concerned with not falling, and keeping the pace with the person they are trying to "watch," although I could be wrong.

Plus most of the guys I see running are almost as fat as me, they probably miss the next 20 riders as they gasp for air from trying to run along side the one rider for 20 yards.

By the way, it doesn't really bother me that much... but it is no fun if I can't gripe. :D

There are far more people that just run along side that seem far more dangerous. Honestly, I never understood the whole running along side thing anyway.

tradition. it's done all the time in europe and even in solvang............

http://erader.zenfolio.com/img/v6/p1071297206-5.jpg

ed rader

they are the same guy.

ed rader

Ah... Weren't they both present at th ATOC? Or was it the same guy with two different helmets depending on stage? Or am I combining multiple races together? And does he also have multiple sets of antlers, because I seem to recall one person with a set of HUGE antlers...

I feel like when I was married and my ex-wife knew all of the "behind the scenes" stuff about the movie stars, and I was clueless. :)

he wore both helmets at the ATOC. antlers are for levi and the horns are for armstrong. fan = short for fanatic :D.

http://erader.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p353264036-5.jpg

ed rader

You haven't been to one.Yeah, when you're at a big place with a huge crowds of people and you're bumping along between riders and crowd, you're right. But when you're on a place with a steep climb and sparse spectators you can run along without interfering with anyone and it takes the time to go by from 2 seconds to 20 it's a big difference. Sure, it doesn't seem like a lot when you're watching 2 hours of TV coverage but it's a lot when you've been out there for 4 hours and that's the whole race to you. You'd have to be there to understand.

Solution? An axle that has something in common with this axle for a leading pace motorcycle.

Just an FYI, interfering with a game can have some pretty serious legal consequences. E.g. in New York, you're facing up to a year in jail plus fines. That may deter some fans from running onto the field.

I learned something new today... That makes it a good day! ;)

I assume that this is something that isn't a big secret, so I guess I am just a little slow on the uptake!

you obviously missed the idiot parade at the tour of california.

Correct

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3467/...e2afffef_m.jpg

The ankler guy isn't that bad, he at least holds his line ;)

Some of the other idiots, you have no idea what they may do Like the chap who ran up to Di luca during the TT and started slapping his shoulder. No wonder Di Luca took a swing at him.

Back in 89 when the Irishman Stephen Roche attacked his own team leader Roberto Visentini on the road to take Pink he reported the tifosi spitting at him, throwing stones at him and even hitting him.

Thankfully things have improved a bit since then but it is disheartening to see that the morons on the road at bike races now in the pictures above do seem to be American exports. :-(

lol.

No, these are just a few pics, the true nuts are in the Basque region, all dressed in Orange.

There are always a few clowns who can potentially cause riders a problem. But it seems to me that the spectators in Italy are generally a bit more polite and restrained than the TDF spectators. That being said, this opinion is just based on watching the TV coverage.