Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 65 total)
  • Why are spectators allowed to run alongside the riders in Le Tour
  • rob-jackson
    Free Member

    Bang out of order – obviously off putting and dangerous!

    househusband
    Free Member

    Incredible isn’t it!

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    trying to get on TV, the Facebook posts ask people not to. Only problem is not enough marshalls/police to sort it – should run a car up there

    andytherocketeer
    Full Member

    They’re not.

    TdF organisers keep tweeting and facebooking and even goggleplus-ing telling people not to.

    Smoke bombs and hand flares are bang out of order too.

    unklehomered
    Free Member

    That’s part of the tour. Its nowhere near as bad as it used to be. The Veulta gets quite silly on account of the tiny roads they use.

    Smoke bombs and hand flares are bang out of order too.

    yeah that’s just **** daft. But then it can’t nice following umpteen cars and motorbikes up a climb when you’re gasping for breath either…

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    It’s pretty much unpoliceable I think. Very annoying.

    rob-jackson
    Free Member

    I honestly cannot believe that a bike race can be that exciting that it makes an adult sooooo giddy!

    zippykona
    Full Member

    Total **** a holes.
    No doubt we shall show johnny foreigner how the tour should be supported next year.

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    If it wasn’t for the fans then the tour would not be half the spectacle that it is.

    mattsccm
    Free Member

    Next year will be the same but possibly worse. After all us Brits don’t have much practice. Think about the number of runners and then how many collisions there are. Bugger all. Mildly annoying as a spectator at worse.

    unklehomered
    Free Member

    No doubt we shall show johnny foreigner how the tour should be supported next year.

    200+ miles of road with nothing but cock&balls drawn on them the entire length???

    I bet if you were on the cragg vale climb, and wiggins or froome was in front, you would not be able to just stand there, clap lightly, calling out “I say, well done!” at a moderate volume…

    rob-jackson
    Free Member

    but i wouldn’t run alongside the riders slapping their arses either!

    mogrim
    Full Member

    Surely it’s all part of the Tour, perhaps it’d be better if they maintained a respectful silence like they do in golf or tennis?

    And why are golf and tennis spectators expected to be quiet?

    nikk
    Free Member

    200+ miles of road with nothing but cock&balls drawn on them the entire length???

    bigbadbob
    Free Member

    I am just waiting for one of the stupid folk running alongside the riders to take out the lead man big style in front of millions of TV viewers and see what Le Tour does about it then, if they can. Must be very frustrating for the riders. Saying that the support for Le Tour is great, I think it was in Lyon the other day, I had to turn down the volume of the TV because the crowd was so loud. Have we had a dog in the road yet, or is that one still to come…

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    Have we had a dog in the road yet, or is that one still to come…

    That was day 2 wasn’t it? Keep up!

    TiRed
    Full Member

    Still waiting for the first decent punch from a rider. Anyone seen one yet this year?

    stever
    Free Member

    Where are they going to get 3400km of barrier fence from?

    jimthelad
    Free Member

    There was a sweet tackle by a Gendarme on a spectator stood right in the middle of the road.

    tonyd
    Full Member

    Where are they going to get 3400km of barrier fence from?

    I think they’re waiting for an Aldi PSA.

    convert
    Full Member

    It wouldn’t be the same without the vocal and animated roadside support. But that’s where they should stay – the side of the road! Good old fashioned gendarme use of the baton from the back of the motorbikes might get through to the knuckle draggers.

    reggiegasket
    Free Member

    the camera bikes should carry electric-shock poles and zap any moron who starts running. The shock would be of exactly the right voltage to cause said moron to lose control of his bowels, on TV.

    Sorted.

    budgierider67
    Full Member

    A couple of stages back there was a toddler running alongside who had to be shepherded by a motorbike.

    christhetall
    Free Member

    It should only be legal if you are wearing the appropriate attire
    Liege

    uselesshippy
    Free Member

    It’s part of the magic of the tour.
    what other sport can you get that close to a competitor.
    Re, people getting taken out by spectators, armstrong clipped a bag strap, and went down on a climb once. But with hindsight….. Not a bad thing. 😀

    uselesshippy
    Free Member

    And have you seen some of the wrc rounds…. 😯
    Same as the tour, but with cars….

    jameso
    Full Member

    One of the best things about the Tour has to be how close / drunk you can get as a fan. There’s some really drunk or just ott idiots at the roadside, but I’ve seen both fans and gendarmes take them out.. seems to be almost self-policing due to the sheer love of the race. A few go a bit far but better as it is than fenced-off and ticket-only, if that were even possible.

    Joe
    Full Member

    Part of the magic of the tour. As a kid i dreamed of honking my way up the Huez, surrounded by fans chanting my name and shouting “alley allez!”.

    I think its only people who haven’t been before who say this. Its one of the most exciting feelings in the world.

    fhendry1
    Free Member

    I liked the bit on one of the stages in the pyrenees where there was some tw*t running along with the riders and another kind spectator held his elbow out at face level … and well the guy didn’t seem to want to run any more.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    I dream of trying to concentrate on my race and have some fat half naked **** run along side me screaming whilst waving a flag inches from my face. That would be exactly what I’d need.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    As @munrobiker says its un-policeable. What are you going to do, arrest a token few, fine them ? Not hard to imagine that’s going to be a new social media sport – getting arrested whilst ridiculously dressed (or not) while being filmed by your mate with footage posted online immediately … yes it’s annoying and dangerous to the riders, today Froome was no hands taking a gel when a knob in a football jersey nearly nudged him.

    slowoldgit
    Free Member

    If the CRS got involved….

    martymac
    Full Member

    i think it should be compulsory to carry a stuffed boar if you are gonna run beside the riders.
    oh wait . . . .

    crashtestmonkey
    Free Member

    the idiots running alongside are just that, idiots, after a pic or clip for their FB account, half of them nowadays aren’t looking at the rider (or where theyre going) but at their camera phone held in front of them.

    I think its only people who haven’t been before who say this. Its one of the most exciting feelings in the world

    Looking a p1llock in front of hundreds of millions of people is no doubt exciting, people streak at sporting events after all. I’ve been roadside in the Alps a few times and never felt the need to run alongside them, might have screamed my lungs out in encouragement but why would you want to risk interfering with the race you’ve gone to see? They dont take the hint when riders punch them, which is pretty bloody dense.

    What are you going to do

    Seriously? I’d have a moto at the front of each group (easy enough to manage gap and limit drafting which is less significant on steeps) actively policing the crowd and forcing the gap. TJ Van Gardening is not going to expend as much energy lashing out as a gendarme, or his extra-wide wing mirrors.

    A couple of stages back there was a toddler running alongside who had to be shepherded by a motorbike

    froomey nearly ran over a kid today.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    All makes for more interest. Roads are boring 😛

    But I’d rather have mixing the crowd with the riders than have corporates look to profit from dedicated pay viewing areas and everyone else barred, like we had with the Olympics around Box Hill (and even if you paid you either rushed to get a good spot or had to watch it on a big screen on open ground away from the course, despite having paid).

    boblo
    Free Member

    Did anyone else see the chap pulling a moony today? I’m starting to feel like I imagined it…

    scandywag
    Free Member

    Someone got a good smack, on the stage where Sagan was caught by the yellow Jersey group after his breakaway. If you look in the background when he pulls a one handed wheelie, a rider in white belts a spectator, Gilbert maybe?

    crashtestmonkey
    Free Member

    Corporate enclaves dont spoil the crowd, they move it. We were on the box hill loop in massive cheering crowds high fiving the police out-riders, and at the tour of Flanders we were surrounded by (and temporarily adopted by) drunk screaming Belgians on oude kwaremont, just opposite a restrained VIP tent. I’m not advocating dull policed seating and polite clapping, I just think running alongside is idiotic.

    Dickyboy
    Full Member

    Did anyone else see the chap pulling a moony today? I’m starting to feel like I imagined it…

    Just seen it on the highlights 😕 so it wasn’t just in your mind & Froome nearly getting taken out by a young kid too

    enfht
    Free Member

    The spectators aren’t half as weird as a gaggle of cyclists wearing leotards.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 65 total)

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