Tour de France fiasco !

[Donnywolf]

Obviously with the happenings in Nice on Bastille Day it seems to put the TdF goings on in perspective but what a shambles

The organisers (like the Counter Terrorism people) have to stay lucky 100 % of the time while the people watching need to get stupid just once ! I know they cant Barrier the whole route every day but surely now they have to extend the Barriers much much further

This was after all supposedly the iconic Stage - Mont Ventoux on Bastille Day - and the crowds were swelled because it was a National Holiday anyway BUT because the finish was moved down the Mont because of 120 km winds at the Summit all the people who had camped in last 6km for days suddenly with 24 hours to go moved down the Mountain so as to see the action or miss out. That added even more spectators and unfortunately they close together (as we did in Yorkshire) to see the action

It means (like at Football if someone Stands up you have to stand up then the next row - and so on) and there someone moves onto the road and the rest have to or they cant see leaving such a narrow gap often leaving nowhere for the Riders to go. They must be p****d off because they cant race at times and have idiots throwing stuff onto them (even urine), dangling flags on them and running alongside them dressed as Chickens, Devils & Toothpaste Tubes - you name it they are there and it ruins the spectacle - the Race - and the event.

The Organisers MUST finally do something and I am sure will barrier off more of each finish probably from now. Its ironic that the spectators want to be part of the action but they then deny the Riders a chance to Race and may even distort the result. Yesterday was shaping up for a definitive Day and who knows what the Yellow Jersey (GC) would have looked like as Frome Porte and Molema were denied the chance to really stick it to themselves and the rest and so the overall final result may have been altered by yesterdays events. Frome may have been able to actually get such an unassailable lead yesterday that he would have only had to "stand up" to WIN - but then again he may not and so its not acceptable for that reason ..... Its got to change *

* I realise it is Sport and not comparable to the happenings elsewhere in France

[Rios]

The problem is it's changed over the years.  It's now become and "event".  A bit like Wimbledon, where people don't go to tennis at any other time of the year and you get lots of people there just because it's an event.  The big mountain stages are now attracting lots of people who aren't necessarily cycling fans (all year round anyway) who go up there, drink lots and then you get scenes like yesterday.

After moving the finish further down the mountain it should have been obvious that those people who would have been much thinner spread was going to be an issue.  Those big stages should be barriered much further down as the cost is negible compared to the cost of riders getting hurt or sponsors/tv pulling out because the course and integrity of the race cannot be maintained.

[Donnywolf]

100% agree. Barriers for last 3k maybe on big Alpine / Mountain Stages maybe ?

I cant really put into words my frustration at yesterday and what it deprived us of as "mere" spectators and more importantly the Riders and Teams. All one Stage being set up for a killer blow and all spoiled by mostly (I speculate here) the Organisation itself aided and abetted by the few spectators who cant behave or in fact don't know that they aren't behaving

Quintana attacked a few times and Frome responded each time before blowing him out. Frome may have won the whole event yesterday but then again Porte may have gone on and dumped Frome or Bauke Mollema may have done them both .... or all 3 got the same time but distanced Quintana for good.

We will never know and for me counting the times at the point of the incident was perhaps the fairest thing they could have done but still unsatisfactory and in view of that if nothing else they must draw a line in the sand NOW

[bahrain rover]

Rios, bang on there! as a avid fan of cycling i cant disagree. but what is to be expected? Mid summer nice location? some of these will have camped a week before. It is well known the crowd move and have traditional ground and camps. Certain corners are nationalized. take Alp Duez  each corner is a different nation!! be it Flemish or Basque all these people are passionate about cycling. its a religion in Europe not like UK. There are supporter clubs for single riders, there like football stars. Easy to see why the crowd. Take the Spring classics and the Tour de Flanders. the climb up the Mur is reminiscent of any TDF mountain stage. I as a cycle racing fan admire the TDF! But give me Paris Roubaix  any day as a test magnificent race.

[Sammy Chung was King]

How long before some nutter attacks a cyclist?, because the way the world is at the minute, nothing surprises you any more unfortunately.
The crowd have no need to be so close to them, it's putting cyclists well being in danger, when they should be protected while competing.