In a behaviour that could only be called bizarre and inexplicable, a spectator threw chips on Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) on Tour de France stage 14 on Saturday.
Just as Pogačar was blasting his way solo up the final climb of Pla d’Adet, a spectator jumped in front of him to throw chips onto the face of the race leader.
The spectator, wearing only shorts, and a yellow hat,, is standing near the middle of the road as Pogačar approaches, and then throws chips from a bag in his hands. Displeased, the Slovenian shakes his head as he continues on to take an emphatic victory.
Not done, the spectator did the same thing to Vingegaard, who was chasing solo, still at the same spot about two kilometres from the finish line.
"There was quite a bit of booing and someone was throwing chips, I heard also they threw the chips at Tadej and that’s strange to do. Just stay off the road and don’t boo anyone. I don’t understand why you go to a bike race and boo at people, “ Vingegaard said after the stage.
One of the greatest joys as a cycling fan is to be able to watch the riders up close, especially on a mountain stage. However, touching riders, impeding the race in any way and obviously throwing anything at them are all completely out of bounds.
“Are you there to be a cycling fan, do you love the sport? Are you there to race the race or are you there to get on TV doing something stupid. I don’t understand why he’s there,” EF Education-Easypost manager Jonathan Vaughters said on Eurosport where he joined the commentary team for stage 14.
Adam Hansen, president of the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA) announced on x (formerly twitter), that “the CPA will take legal action against this guy with pleasure due to what he did to both Pogacar and Vingegaard. This is disrespectful and will not be tolerated.”
It is not the first fan incident at this year's Tour, as Jan Hirt (Soudal-Quickstep) broke his teeth after he hit the deck after getting caught on a spectator's bag in the team area before the start of stage 1 in Florence.
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