Runners on the ground even before the first difficulties of the day. The fifteenth stage of the Tour de France between Les Gets and Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc on Sunday was marked by a major fall after fifty kilometers, in the streets of the town of Fillière (Haute-Savoie). The reason ? A spectator present destabilized, by touching him with his arm during his passage, the rider of the Jumbo-Visma, Sepp Kuss, sixth in the general classification.
The American rider of the Yellow Jersey formation, Jonas Vingegaard, fell heavily, dragging several other members of the peloton with him. His Belgian teammate Nathan Van Hooydonck was one of the runners who set off on the asphalt, as was the winner of the Grande Boucle 2019, Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers) or Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty). Stunned for several minutes, Van Hooydonck ended up leaving, just like all the riders.
The accident, which occurred in front of a bar in the capital of Aviernoz, drew the attention of the authorities. According to our information, an investigation has been opened by the gendarmes to determine more precisely the causes of this accident in the peloton. Contacted, the Annecy prosecutor’s office explains to Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France that it is waiting to see if the runner unbalanced by the spectator intends to file a complaint or not to determine the criminal consequences to be given.
The police will therefore approach the Jumbo-Visma of Sepp Kuss to find out their intentions. The gendarmes of Bonneville, who intervened on the spot, have the coordinates of this person from the public, who lives in the agglomeration of Annecy, if necessary.
“Nathan looks a little hurt, luckily he can continue,” tweeted the Jumbo-Visma team. Please be careful when watching roadside cycling. “Other formations involved in the event also relayed messages of calls for caution.
A runner forced to retire after hitting a spectator
This is not the first time that a spectator has caused a cyclist in this 2023 edition of the Tour de France to fall. Another Belgian, TotalEnergies team leader Steff Cras, hit a member of the public a week ago on the road to Limoges. The one who was aiming for the general classification of the event was forced to leave the race after his injury. He then attacked on Twitter the person responsible for his fall, believing that she had “no respect for the runners”.
The next day, the Frenchman Lilian Calmejane also went down on the stage leading to the Puy de Dôme. The runner ((Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) had caught the wheel in the wire holding tribute jerseys to Raymond Poulidor, who fell on the road when the runners passed.
In June 2021, a woman holding a sign “Go opi-omi! » had caused the fall of part of the peloton in Brittany. She had been fined 1,200 euros by the Brest court.
