Culture

A Woman And Her Cardboard Sign Ruined The Tour De France And Now The Police Are After Her

Imagine a piece of cardboard having this much power.

by Michelle Rennex  28 June 2021
tour de france sign crash police

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In the most cartoonish turn of events ever, law enforcement is on the hunt for the woman who caused a massive crash at the Tour de France after she struck a rider with her comically large cardboard sign while trying to get some screen time.

And boy oh boy, did the sporting enthusiast get some screen time. Perched up on the side of the road with 47km left of the first stage, the spectator pushed out her sign that read “Allez Opi-Omi!” as the peloton fast approached.

But after focusing on the TV cameras and not the race at hand, the shitty “Come on Grandpa and Grandma” sign ended up clipping German rider Tony Martin resulting in a massive domino-style pile-up that knocked over dozens of riders.

With the Tour de France cyclists piling up on the track and spilling out onto the side into innocent spectators, the race was held up for several precious minutes and it took around 25km for the group to recover.

While there weren’t any serious injuries, German rider Jasha Sütterlin was forced to pull out of the race as a result of the crash after sustaining a “severe contusion to his right wrist that will require further examinations back at home”.

Naturally, those watching at home were absolutely baffled by the woman’s determination to get three seconds of screen time which effectively ruined the tournament that the cyclists spent all year training for.

In response to the major fuck up, the official Tour de France Twitter account noted that while the tournament is happy to have spectators back, they want people to start using their brains.

“We’re glad to have the public on the side of the road on the Tour de France 2021. But for the Tour to be a success, respect the safety of the riders!” they tweeted. “Don’t risk everything for a photo or to get on television!”

But Tour de France deputy director, Pierre-Yves Thouault, has since shared that the woman will be sued for her damaging actions.

“We are suing this woman who behaved so badly,” Thouault told AFP. “We are doing this so that the tiny minority of people who do this don’t spoil the show for everyone.”

“The Landerneau police are investigating and we haven’t heard back from them yet,” Thouault updated Reuters earlier today. “We are going to repeat our calls for fans to behave time and again, through the police on the side of the road and our social network.”

“Most of the fans are peaceful but I want to stress that you come see the Tour, you don’t take selfies, you keep your kids close to you.”

Law enforcement from the French Finistère region is now on the hunt for the woman who fled the scene and is asking for any witnesses who can help locate her.

“A judicial investigation is opened for ‘unintentional injuries… by manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence’,” the gendarmerie posted to Facebook.

As for what the cyclists in the tournament think about the whole debacle, Tony Martin — the rider who first clipped the sign causing the domino effect — has spoken out.

“I saw the lady, I saw the sign but there was no time to react,” Martin said. “I still can’t understand how people can do things like that. We’re here to race our bikes – it’s not a circus.”

Thankfully despite the blood gushing out of multiple wounds on his body, Martin shared that he actually doesn’t “feel too bad” now but noted that the mechanics “had a long night” with a lot of bikes getting completely totalled by the pile-up.

Belgian rider Jasper Stuyven also added his own thoughts on the mess with a little jab to the message on the anonymous woman’s sign: “I hope Omi & Opi are proud of you…”

“On a serious note though; great to see still many spectators are loving our sport and cheering for us, but please, stay on the side of the road, not on the road!”

So, yeah. Maybe this is a sign for you to leave the signs at home for your next sporting event. Please.