Posted on 10/14/2021 8:48:34 PM PDT by Eddie01
Prosecutors in the trial of a spectator who caused a huge crash on the first stage of the Tour de France have asked for a four-month suspended jail sentence, according to a lawyer for the riders' union.
The French woman, who was not been named, was holding a sign up to TV cameras, with her back to the onrushing peloton.
German cyclist Tony Martin hit the sign and fell to the the ground, with dozens more falling as they rode into him in a scene that grabbed global headlines.
Most of the riders were able to resume the race, but another German cyclist, Jasha Sütterlin, was forced to pull out of the Tour with a large haematoma to his wrist.
[snip]
"What we want from this trial is that it helps ensure this does not happen again. Cycling is dangerous enough in itself, no need for additional risks," Mr Palao said.
[snip]
The woman, whom prosecutors earlier said felt ashamed of what she had done, told the court on Thursday that holding the sign up was a mistake and that she regretted it.
[snip]
The Tour de France withdrew its own lawsuit in July, saying that while the safety of the race was key, the case had been blown out of proportion after it triggered a media frenzy.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
they should have at least had to pay for the bicycles they destroyed, (and those bikes are not cheap)
Obviously it was a (hilarious) mistake.
They did not have the race course roped or fenced off.
It was the organizers fault for allowed these bicycle gawkers to stand on or close to the roadway.
And besides an occasional pileup, what excitement can one get watching adults riding bicycles?
She must have been ond Dumb Bunny to get in the way like that. Nobody should be that close to the action if you are not also on a bike. Somebody have probably already circulated her name, address, occupation and image.
If she came to America, she would be one of those tourists getting two feet away from a herd of Buffalo to take a Selfie.
On day after this dies down that would make a great commercial for Bactine.
bull crap
Karma just struck. I’m talking about Dumb Bunnies, and I make a mistake spelling the word ‘one’.
“Fan.”
I can’t believe they allow this intimate contact.
Don’t have to be spoilsports, but give a margin of 10 ft at least, geesh!
As for excitement - I think it’s OK - except one only sees them go by once (in most such races), or for some, a few repeats of very long laps.
It’s like cross-country, and lots of car races, etc. So you see one small part of it. Better to see all of it.
“And besides an occasional pileup, what excitement can one get watching adults riding bicycles?”
True, it’s an incredibly gay sport*, also boring. So this DEFINITELY added some life into things.
*after all, it’s men in tights
Decades ago, a popular saying was “Beautiful, but dumb.” and that was meant as a compliment!
This was said a lot during the Jayne Mansfield era.
Probably about $12,000. Each.
So's the NFL.
One is judged on the crime, not the intentions.
She had no business standing in the road and had to know this would have caused a wreck. You can’t not not figure that out.
That’s completely impractical. You can’t erect crowd barriers on a 2000+ mile route of public roads. Roadside crowds have been part of the TdF for the last 100+ years. There’s a rolling police motorbike escort which moves in front of the peloton to ensure spectators aren’t obstructing the road.
This potential has existed for forty years. Going back 20 years ago, I used to watch some of this (no longer over the past decade). You’d always see people on the edge of the road and keep thinking there’s going to be some catastrophic accident to occur.
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