Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma team is considering pressing charges against the spectator who caused a massive crash in Sunday’s 15th stage of the Tour de France, the Dutch outfit said on Monday.
Jumbo-Visma’s Sepp Kuss was brought down by a fan who stretched his arm toward him and the American lost his balance, triggering the pile-up that sent two dozens of riders to the deck, including two team mates of Kuss.
A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the fan had been identified by the French gendarmerie but would not be arrested unless Kuss would sue him.
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Asked if Kuss would press charges, a Jumbo-Visma spokesperson told Reuters: “The team might do. We’ll find out how and when.”
Tour de France teams have urged spectators to be more careful.
“There was a spectator leaning into the road... There was a narrowing in a town. We were just trying to slow down the peloton to let the break go,” Jumbo-Visma’s Kuss said.
“And then just on the side unfortunately, somebody wanted to get a selfie. I didn’t really see it coming.”
Team Cofidis asked spectators to be careful and said in a statement that they “don’t need a cellphone to make memories”.
Egan Bernal, the 2019 champion, was one of the riders brought down in the crash and his Ineos Grenadiers team called on spectators to “give the riders room to race”.
In 2021, a fan who caused a crash when she held up a cardboard sign towards a television camera while facing away from oncoming cyclists was fined 1,200 euros (1,347.48 USD).
Prosecutors had sought a four-month suspended jail sentence after she was accused of involuntarily causing injury and putting the lives of others at risk.
Monday is a rest day before Tuesday’s 16th stage, a 22.4km time trial. Vingegaard holds a 10-second lead over twice winner Tadej Pogacar as the Tour enters its final week.
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