Tour de France Fans Spat at Armstrong

#1 07-21-2004, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Tour director says fans spat at Armstrong
Wed 21 July, 2004 19:44

L'ALPE D'HUEZ, France (Reuters) - Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has admitted he had seen fans spit at five-times champion Lance Armstrong during the 15.5-km time trial to L'Alpe d'Huez.

Leblanc also said the swarming crowds on the twisting climb on Wednesday had frightened him as riders, including Armstrong, were forced to weave through excited fans who jumped out on to the road.

"I was scared too and I felt relieved when we reached the section with barriers," Leblanc told Reuters after stage winner Armstrong described the stage as a "bad idea" and hit out at some German fans.

"Until this morning, everybody thought this time trial was a good idea and now we realised it was not so.

"There were lots of aggressive fans surrounding the riders and I even saw two idiots spit at Lance Armstrong."

"Unfortunately I doubt you can put barriers on the 14 kilometres of the climb," he added.

Armstrong, who stormed to victory nearly a minute ahead of his closest challenger Jan Ullrich and now looks set for a record sixth Tour win, urged organisers to think seriously about holding another time trial at the ski resort.

"I don't know if that's such a good thing for the Tour de France. I don't think it's safe. I think organisers should watch out," said the American.

Classy

thermobryan · #2 07-22-2004, 03:47 AM

I hate the french!

moe.ron · #3 07-22-2004, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by thermobryan
I hate the french!

Reports show that the fans that spat on Armstrong where either the Dutch or the Germans.

ETA: Looking at different pictures on the incident, the people were either the Dutch or Basque. Notice the people wearing the Orange in this picture

Another ETA: Just found out that they were indeed from the Basque. They are fans of Euskaltel Euskadi.

mmcat · #4 07-22-2004, 07:48 AM

are you surprised??

Munchkin03 · #5 07-22-2004, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by thermobryan
I hate the french!

Um, did you read the article?

Basque + Germans=NOT THE FRENCH

KSigkid · #6 07-22-2004, 08:06 AM

Whoever did it, it's a hell of a classless act.

Thrillhouse · #7 07-22-2004, 08:14 AM

Something should be done to keep those fans back. If nothing else, its kind of scary seeing these people six inches away from you.

SigmaChiGuy · #8 07-22-2004, 08:39 AM

I hate the French too. They smell and have no backbone and need to change their national flag to solid white.

piphimaggie · #9 07-22-2004, 08:46 AM

Someone actually punched some poor cyclist in the stomach back in the 70s and he had kidney problems after that.....he never really recovered his previous fast pace racing style. The point I'm making is that this is nothing new to the Tour. The fans get a little crazy.
Luckily the guy who punched the one rider was identified and arrested thanks to that being the 1st year that the Tour had TV cameras documenting it live.

DeltaSigStan · #10 07-22-2004, 09:57 AM

Well, Lance can shit on all of Europe on Sunday.

Rudey · #11 07-22-2004, 12:22 PM

I thought Lance was a cult hero in France actually and it was the British that disliked him and pushed the steroid stories. Who knows. The Basque? Yeah really great PR for an independent state.

-Rudey

Peaches-n-Cream · #12 07-22-2004, 12:52 PM

They should just put up barriers to protect the athletes as well as the fans. The cyclists could collide with the fans, and there could be some serious injuries. Plus there is always a chance that a psycho might come along and attack an athlete the way that Nancy Kerrigan and Monica Seles were attacked.

I am always amazed that the New York marathon has remained relatively incident free with the huge number of participants and viewers. The police keep the fans on the sidewalks for the most part to give the runners the room that they need to race.

Rudey · #13 07-22-2004, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Peaches-n-Cream
They should just put up barriers to protect the athletes as well as the fans. The cyclists could collide with the fans, and there could be some serious injuries. Plus there is always a chance that a psycho might come along and attack an athlete the way that Nancy Kerrigan and Monica Seles were attacked.

I am always amazed that the New York marathon has remained relatively incident free with the huge number of participants and viewers. The police keep the fans on the sidewalks for the most part to give the runners the room that they need to race.

It's difficult to have barriers in that stage...

-Rudey

XOMichelle · #14 07-22-2004, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
I thought Lance was a cult hero in France actually and it was the British that disliked him and pushed the steroid stories. Who knows. The Basque? Yeah really great PR for an independent state.

-Rudey

The Basque state isn't independent, is it? I thought they were an ethnic group in northern Spain (which has given them some autonomy, the same as Catalonia) and in southern France.

moe.ron · #15 07-22-2004, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by XOMichelle
The Basque state isn't independent, is it? I thought they were an ethnic group in northern Spain (which has given them some autonomy, the same as Catalonia) and in southern France.

There are some in the Basque which want an intedepent state, away from Spain. Look into ETA.