Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar are in a two-way battle to win the Tour de France with seven (really six) stages left. The latter added to his lead on Saturday with a breakaway win over the former to claim his second stage of the race and keep the yellow jersey.
However, disaster nearly struck both riders in the last 10 kilometers.
Stage 14 of the Tour traveled 151.9 kilometers into the Pyrenees mountains from Pau to Saint Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet. Pogačar smashed a 30-year climbing record on the famous Pla d’Adet and went on a huge, unplanned attack with about five kilometers left. Vingegaard couldn’t keep up.
One of the craziest parts of cycling is the lack of crowd control. Fans are pretty much allowed to go wherever on the course they would like outside of certain barricades at the start and finish, which caused a rider to shatter his teeth before the first stage of the race got underway.
There is simply no way to keep anybody back on the mountains.
Tour de France fans go rogue!
Spectators have unrestricted access to the riders. They crowd the streets and only get out of the way at the last possible second. It can get dangerous.
As is the case with anything, one singular person can ruin the fun for everybody. That was true on Saturday as the two top riders in this year’s Tour de France made their way up to the finish.
A half shirtless man stood on the side of the road with his butt hanging out of his shorts. He wore a bucket hat and glasses. Not shoes.
The classless spectator reached into a bag of chips and threw them in the face of Pogačar.
Para que lo reportéis y actuéis en consecuencia, @LeTour
— Juan Clavijo (@Juan_Clavijo_) July 13, 2024
Que no quede indemne el gracioso de turno.
Por suerte, el 99% de los aficionados respetan al ciclista.#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/F44P7ILBbF
He did the exact same thing with Vingegaard shortly thereafter.
This man also threw crisps into
— Sanny Rudravajhala (@Sanny_Rudra) July 13, 2024
Jonas Vingegaard’s face too. #tdf2024 pic.twitter.com/MBVNi81KqO
The Cyclistes Professionel Associes is the largest international association of professional cyclists and represents most of men’s professional cyclists to the sport’s governing body. President Adam Hansen announced the CPA’s plans to go after the chip-throwing lunatic.
The CPA will take legal action against this guy with pleasure due to what he did to both Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. This is disrespectful and will not be tolerated.
— Adam Hansen
Get him! That guy is in for a rude awakening. Maybe don’t throw chips in the yellow jersey’s face on international television…