Tour de France outrage as 'idiotic' fan moment causes huge crash

Another year, another massive Tour de France crash sparked by a fan doing something stupid. The carnage came about 50km into the 15th stage of cycling's most prestigious event - won by Wout Poels - when a spectator tried to take a selfie as the peloton rode past.

The crash was caused when Team Jumbo-Visma rider Sepp Kuss had his handlebars knocked by a fan holding out a phone. The supporter had wandered carelessly out onto the road in front of Kuss, oblivious to the fact that he was riding within a short distance of the group of fans watching from the side of the road.

'SO CLASSY': Wimbledon men's final moment takes tennis world by storm

'SO PROUD': Aussies retain famous urn in Women's Ashes 'classic'

The impact of Kuss's handlebars knocking into the supporter caused his bike to wobble, before he crashed into teammate Nathan van Hooydonck and sparked a messy chain reaction. The two bikes took out a number of other riders in the peloton, with almost two dozens competitors going down in chaotic scenes.

"There was a narrowing in the town and a spectator in the road, and I guess he just clipped my handlebars," a rattled Kuss said afterwards. The official Tour Twitter account posted a slow-motion video of a rider ducking under a spectator's outstretched arm with the message: "Please pay attention to the riders."

Jumbo-Visma tweeted: "Please be always aware when watching cycling at the side of the road." Team Confidis added: "Please be careful. You don't need a cell phone to create mind-blowing memories."

Crashes being caused due to the questionable acts of fans are unfortunately all too common at the Tour de France, with 2021 witnessing perhaps the worst in history when a fan wearing a yellow jacket and holding a large sign, caused a horrific pile-up described at the time as the 'worst crash in Tour de France history'.

Tour de France viewers fume over 'criminal' scenes

While this latest incident wasn't quite so bad, it nevertheless sparked plenty of uproar on social media. One user insisted about offenders: “It’s about time they started getting prosecuted", as the cycling world vented its disgust over the latest "idiotic" incident.

Wout Poels escapes carnage to win 15th stage

Poels was the last survivor of a big breakaway group that went clear of the main peloton after the crash which reshaped the 179km stage from Les Gets to Saint-Gervais. The Dutch rider came to the foot of the final climb up to Saint-Gervais with Wout van Aert but immediately attacked as the road ramped up and gradually eased clear to take the win by more than two minutes.

Tour leader Jonas Vingegaard and close contender Tadej Pogacar came home shoulder to shoulder some six minutes after Poels crossed the lines. Vingegaard's advantage in yellow remains at 10 seconds going into Monday's rest day.

Carlos Rodriguez was just behind to strengthen his hold on third place overall. Australia's Jai Hindley suffered a second tough day in the mountains and dropped to fifth behind Briton Adam Yates .

For Hindley the race is now about making the podium. He began the stage only one second behind Rodriguez, but is now one minute 17 seconds adrift of the Ineos Grenadiers rider and 6.38 behind Vingegaard.

The stage 15 carnage came after a horrific crash in the previous stage that saw proceedings halted for 25 minutes and forced a number of riders to abandon the race. The massive crash occurred on a slippery descent with 146km left in the stage, with Movistar rider Antonio Pedrero carried off on a stretcher. South African Louis Meintjes also pulled out, before Colombian Esteban Chaves threw in the towel 134km from the finish in Morzine.

In the descent of the Col de Saxel, France's Romain Bardet, second in the 2016 Tour de France, crashed on a bend at 60km/h and after a long discussion with doctors, was reduced to tears as he was also forced to pull out. Chaves's EF EasyPost teammate James Shaw crashed along with Bardet and the Briton was also taken away on a stretcher.

with agencies

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.