Fans at the Tour de France: Pleasure and danger for professional cyclists

Normally Georg Zimmermann enjoys being close to the fans, but on the descent from the Grand Colombier he would have preferred to take a different route.

Zimmermann about fans at the Tour de France

"It's normal for us to have to ride 18 kilometres through the chaos, past pretty drunk fans. I don't want to blame them, they're having fun, but it's dangerous and unpleasant," said the climber after his 13th place in the 13th stage of the Tour de France.

The climb up the big mountains at the Tour of France with euphoric fans makes for electrifying images, but sometimes it feels like running the gauntlet for the exhausted pros. "Let a football team run a lap through the stadium stands after 120 minutes at full throttle. They probably wouldn't want to do that again," added the 25-year-old. The Augsburg rider was part of a breakaway group for a long time on the bank holidays, but lost the connection early on in the final climb.

Arrivals at Bergen

The cyclists often have to cycle down the same way they cycled up before. They are then equipped with a whistle to make themselves heard. Zimmermann would have liked a different evacuation plan from the Tour organisers for the Colombier. "That we drive down another side and the buses are parked there," he suggested. "That was the most unpleasant part of the day today, driving down there."

How things are currently going

On Wednesday, sprinter Jordi Meeus from the German team Bora-hansgrohe was almost involved in a crash. A fan had held his arm over the barrier. Belgian professional cyclist Steff Cras had blamed a fan for his elimination from the Tour after crashing on stage eight. One day later, Zimmermann's colleague Lilian Calmajane fell. The Frenchman got tangled up in a washing line hanging in front of a camper van at the side of the route.

"We're glad that we have the spectators," Nikias Arndt told the German Press Agency, but he also noted: "But the spectators also have to be aware of their responsibility. Many of them have their backs to us with their mobile phones, take selfies and stand half a metre further along the road than the others. We arrive at 60, 70 kilometres per hour, so it's difficult to avoid them."

>> The route of the Tour de France 2023

Always material for stories

On the one hand, the Tour thrives on the closeness of the fans, but on the other hand, there have been dangerous situations. In 2021, there was a serious crash when German rider Tony Martin crashed into a spectator's cardboard sign held on the road. A year later, rider Daniel Oss had to abandon the Tour of France due to a broken neck after touching a careless fan with his head.

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