There are always crashes that come with the Tour de France, naturally. It’s a bike race and accidents are bound to happen.
But a crash like this should absolutely never happen — mostly because it didn’t have to. Especially not in the first stage of the race.
Riders went down in droves the first stage of the race after German cyclist Tony Martin hit a sign from a fan that got a little too close to the action. Martin going down knocked down his entire team and dozens of other riders along with him.
It was a really bad crash and a pretty scary one.
This just happened in the Tour de France. pic.twitter.com/MIvVdjeBJn
— The Tweets (@Needles_Toosay) June 26, 2021
The fan was holding up a sign that read “Allez Opi-Omi” which is German for “Go grandma and grandpa,” per NBC Sports.
The crash is even scarier when you look at it from a bird’s eye view.
The worst Tour de France crash I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/1jngQE1pYg
— daniel (@cyclingreporter) June 26, 2021
The race did continue, however. French cyclist Julian Alaphilippe won the first stage despite the chaos.
Victory for Alaphilippe in Stage 1!
He captures a frenzied and exciting stage victory to start this year's @LeTour. pic.twitter.com/nEsPOW9rtS
— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSNCycling) June 26, 2021
Still, this was totally terrifying. Hopefully there weren’t any major injuries and everyone is relatively OK.
Please, fans. Stay out of the way on Stage 2.
