A massive accident occurred during the first day of the 2021 edition of the Tour de France after a fan crossed the track and, to dodge it, a group of more than a hundred riders hit each other and against the asphalt.
The peloton had departed from the city of Brest, in western France, with the aim of travelling the 198 kilometres to Landerneau. The serious episode occurred on Saturday in the region of Brittany where a woman crossed paths with a sign, allegedly, to take a photo.
It was at that very moment that cyclist Tony Martin, hit the woman on his side, fell off his bike and triggered the fall of the other riders who were still behind him. Footage of the crash showed a large number of runners lying on the floor, some with severe injuries. In fact, several cyclists shot out of the road and ended up on the side of the road.
One of the main affected was the German Jasha Sütterlin who left the competition immediately. Tony Martin was injured with numerous injuries to his arm and one of his legs, while Marc Soler ended up with a heavy blow to the wrist. So far, at least 21 athletes have been reported with injuries of varying severity.
After the accident, the organization of the event begged spectators to “respect the safety of the runners” and “not risk everything for a photo or to appear on television.”
In addition, they confirmed that the woman who caused the incident will be sued by the organizers of the French race but have not yet been able to identify her. Therefore, they opened a request to the witnesses present to provide information to identify the person responsible, who left the place before the security forces intervened.
This serious episode overshadowed the performance of world champion Julian Alaphilippe, who finished first in the opening stage and donned the yellow net with eight seconds ahead of Michael Matthews. Last year’s runner-up Primoz Roglic was third.
