Carnage at the Tour de France as a SPECTATOR causes massive pile-up on stage one… with fans’ banner bringing down riders with German Jasha Sutterlin forced to abandon the race
- The Tour de France kicked off on Saturday with the riders rolling out of Brest
- A giant pile-up was caused by a mindless fans wielding a banner roadside
- The spectator wiped-out Jumbo-Visma’s Tony Martin at the front of the peloton
- More than 100 riders were stalled, with several lying injured on the road
- Team DSM’s German rider Jasha Sutterlin was forced to abandon the race
A roadside spectator showing-off a banner to the TV cameras caused chaos on stage one of the Tour de France, stepping into the road and causing a shocking pile-up.
Cycling’s showpiece rolled out of Brest on Saturday to begin three weeks of racing, but the race’s familiar first-week chaos reared its head with 45km to go.
As the peloton wound its way through the narrow Brittany back-roads, the Jumbo-Visma team were organised together on the right-hand-side of the road.
A roadside spectator caused a massive crash in the Tour de France on Saturday with a banner
With all-but a couple of riders among 184-strong field behind him, Tony Martin was protecting his team leader Primoz Roglic when a spectator stepped into the road, looking into the TV cameras ahead.
Martin had nowhere to go as he slammed into the fan’s arm, as his team-mates and competitors piled in behind.
More than 20 riders hit the deck, with Team DSM’s Jasha Sutterlin forced to abandon the race due to his injuries.
More to follow…