(Reuters) – Tour de France teams have urged spectators to be more careful after a fan trying to take a selfie caused a massive pile-up during Sunday’s 15th stage.
Three team mates of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard crashed when Sepp Kuss hit the spectator’s arm and lost his balance, taking down Nathan van Hooydonck, Dylan van Baarle and a group of around 20 riders.
“There was a spectator leaning into the road… There was a narrowing in a town. We were just trying to slow down the peloton to let the break go,” Jumbo-Visma’s Kuss said.
“And then just on the side unfortunately, somebody wanted to get a selfie. I didn’t really see it coming.”
Team Cofidis asked spectators to be careful and said in a statement that they “don’t need a cellphone to make memories”.
Egan Bernal, the 2019 champion, was one of the riders brought down in the crash and his Ineos Grenadiers team called on spectators to “give the riders room to race”.
In 2021, a fan who caused a crash when she held up a cardboard sign towards a television camera while facing away from oncoming cyclists was fined 1,200 euros ($1,347.48).
Prosecutors had sought a four-month suspended jail sentence after she was accused of involuntarily causing injury and putting the lives of others at risk.
Monday is a rest day before Tuesday’s 16th stage, a 22.4km time trial. Vingegaard holds a 10-second lead over twice winner Tadej Pogacar as the Tour enters its final week.
($1 = 0.8906 euros)
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
