Tour de France crash: Fan causes huge pile up in peloton as sign collides with Tony Martin

The Tour de France in numbers

One careless fan at the Tour de France – who was not paying attention to the race – managed to cause a heavy crash that wiped out over 20 competitors during the peloton but thankfully, there were no serious injuries. The collision that occurred between Brest and Landerneau spelt the end for many of the riders, with many unable to continue following the nasty incident which took place with around 45k to go.

Jumbo Visma’s Tony Martin was pedalling when he crashed into a spectator, who was holding out a sign onto the road.

Replays showed that the supporter was holding up a cardboard sign that read: “Allez Opi-Omi!”

Yet instead of making the most of their view of the race, the fan was looking at the cameras on a passing bike and smiling as the riders raced towards them.

Disaster soon followed when Martin crashed into the sign and was therefore knocked off his bike.

Tour de France crash: The crash was caused by a fan holding out a sign (Image: Eurosport)

The trailing competitors then slammed into his body, with one even running over his head as several others were flung from their seats.

The whole of the Jumbo Visma team were wiped out following the incident in bitterly frustrating circumstances.

Among those was Primoz Roglic, who went down heavy in what can only be described as rotten luck for the Slovenia.

Sonny Colbrelli and Julian Alaphilippe were also amongst those affected during the crash.

Martin was riding on the right side of the road when he came into contact with the spectator’s flailing arm.

Shortly after, Ineos riders and Deceuninck-Quickstep began to make their way down the road as the huge pile of bodies and bikes slowly began to disperse.

Jasha Sutterlin of Team DSM was the first rider to call it a day after the collision.

In the mean time, there was huge outrage on social media after the video of the crash went viral.

The fan caused carnage with the crash at the Tour de France (Image: Twitter)

Team Qhubeka NextHash, Africa’s first UCI World Tour Team had a clear message for spectators after the incident and encouraged the crash to be a wake up call for those watching the action.

“Our beautiful sport is completely unique and extra special in how accessible we are to the fans,” they tweeted.

“If we could please remind all spectators along the roads to stand back, at a safe distance, as the race passes by.”

As the race neared the finish, Mikkel Bjerg, of UAE-Team Emirates was pictured riding with ripped shorts form the chaos.

There was yet another huge crash later in the race in the final stretches.

Chris Froome was also amongst those injured in the ruckus as well as Andre Greipel.

While it looked like Froome was on course to drop out, he managed to soldier on after receiving medical attention.

Tour de France Stage 1: Top 3

1) Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck–Quick-Step)

2) Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange)

3) Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma).