tour de france : scandalous

Walter, after the race was over, Lance commented that he was partly
responsible by riding too close to the edge. But I agree that Tour
spectators appear to be interfering too much. God only knows if that
liquid I see them spraying on the cyclists is really water. Suppose
it got into their eyes?
But it was a heck of stage race today!

rick

Walter Mitty wrote in message ...
Am enjoying my first full Tour on the TV : (an evening job helps)

Lance was just knocked off his bike by a ****ing stupid spectator. What are
the "rules" here?? Will Ulrich pull up and let Lance get back into the race
or is it just "rub of the green" as they say in Golf?

That spectator should be hung by his toes. All that effort, training,
determination, cat & mouse ruined by one foolish asshole.

Back to the race, with fingers crossed that Lance catches up and makes a go
of it.

May the best man win : the fair way.

I think you're a bit too hard on this spectator. He stood on the side of
road, didnt run with the riders, didn't try to touch them. All he did
was holding his cap in his hand. Lance rode to close to the guy and
unfortunately the cap hooked on his bike. It was a mistake of Armstrong
to ride this close to a spectator, while there was enough room and the
spectator wasnt in the way. The fall was unfortunate, but sportmanship
of the other riders, and some luck (no bike trouble or injuries),
prevented that this fall had a big impact on the race.

[The only impact it really had, was the adrenaline rush Armstrong had
after this fall, which made him attack like we have not yet seen him
this tour]

If you want to discuss spectator/fan behaviour, you can better comment
on the extreme behaviour of cyclistfans higher up the mountains. Where
they jump in front of the riders, and form a chaotic mass which makes
racing very hard. I think this explosion of enthusiasm and joy has gone
a bit too far, and becomes more and more of a carnaval that has a
negative impact on the race.

Funny thing is, that most riders never complain. The only thing they
say, is that they dont want to be touched by spectators. For the rest
they often get a kick out of it.



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And for tolerance like this events like the Chimney Rock Hill Climb are no
more. We started cars at two minute intervals while the course was clear
and still the idiot spectators would dance bare assed on the course between
cars.

Do we - volunteers, sponsors, organizers - put events on for the benefit of
(idiot) spectators or for our friends, the competitors?


"Kevan Smith" /\/\ wrote in message
...

In Europe, there is a tradition of spectator "involvement" in bike races.
For
the most part, people are trusted to a much greater degree than they would
be in
the U.S. IF a mountain stage were here, for example, the crowd would
probably be
kept several yards from the road by metal barricades and armed guards. All
things considered, I think I like the European way better.

"Kevan Smith" /\/\ wrote in message
...

In Europe, there is a tradition of spectator "involvement" in bike races.
For
the most part, people are trusted to a much greater degree than they would
be in
the U.S. IF a mountain stage were here, for example, the crowd would
probably be
kept several yards from the road by metal barricades and armed guards. All
things considered, I think I like the European way better.


Yes -- but remember the crazed tennis fan jumped out of the crowd and
stabbed Monica Seles. That happened in Europe and the nut case was German
if I remember right. On the other hand, I really can't think of an similar
incident in the US off the top of my head.

Mark

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 16:51:24 -0400, "Mark Weaver"
wrote:

remember the crazed tennis fan jumped out of the crowd and
stabbed Monica Seles. That happened in Europe and the nut case was German
if I remember right. On the other hand, I really can't think of an similar
incident in the US off the top of my head.

I guess your crazies are too busy shooting up schools or random
civilians :-/

The world is full of mad people, but the majority are sane and
reasonable. Most sports spectators are there to enjoy the sport,
especially with cycling, especially in France.

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony.
http://www.chapmancentral.com
[currently offline awaiting ADSL transfer to new ISP]

22 Jul 2003 05:43:56 +0950, ,
TbosS wrote:

I think this explosion of enthusiasm and joy has gone
a bit too far, and becomes more and more of a carnaval that has a
negative impact on the race.

They see it as their chance to get on TV or have their photo in their
favourite magazines. I think the concept of "media star" has a lot to
do with the spread and escalation of the behaviour.
--
zk

Stergios Papadakis brightened my day with his
incisive wit when in he conjectured
that:

archer wrote:

In article , says...

This thread gives away the important events of the stage,
including the finish.

Stergios

Yes : it's called commentary. But, point taken, I maybe should have put a
spoiler note in the subject line. I was too excited to think straight.

--
Walter Mitty.

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 15:15:50 +0000, Kevan Smith wrote:

In Europe, there is a tradition of spectator "involvement" in bike races.
For the most part, people are trusted to a much greater degree than they
would be in the U.S. IF a mountain stage were here, for example, the crowd
would probably be kept several yards from the road by metal barricades and
armed guards.

There are examples here of how we would do it. The US Pro
(bank-name-of-the-week) race in Philadelphia has portable barriers at the
curb, but spectators are not kept "several yards away". Marshalls and
cops keep the spectators off the road, and that is all. The riders come
within a foot of the spectators, everyone gets to see, no one gets in the
way. Seems reasonable to me. The only reason you don't see that much
crowd control in the Tour is the impossibly long stretches of road
involved. The US Pro race is a 15 mile loop; much easier to control the
crowds there than on a 125-mile Tour stage.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | You will say Christ saith this and the apostles say this; but
_`\(,_ | what canst thou say? -- George Fox.
(_)/ (_) |

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 11:12:09 +0000, archer wrote:

According to the report I just read, Ullrich did slow down rather than
attacking, and then Lance ended up taking the stage and put a minute or so
into Ullrich, with Ullrich taking 4th.

Ullrich was third.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember
_`\(,_ | that your initial objective was to drain the swamp. -- LBJ
(_)/ (_) |

In article , Walter Mitty
writes:

Lance was just knocked off his bike by a ****ing stupid spectator. What are
the "rules" here?? Will Ulrich pull up and let Lance get back into the race
or is it just "rub of the green" as they say in Golf?


Golf may say "rub of the green". Bike racers know that this situation is "a
normal risk of bike racing".