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Tour de France: update on the investigation targeting the spectator at the origin of the collective fall

2021-06-28T22:26:47.102Z


The gendarmerie announced on Sunday June 27 the opening of a judicial investigation against the spectator which caused a huge fall of the runners on Saturday with his sign.


A complaint against X was lodged with the Landerneau gendarmerie by the Tour de France for the huge fall that occurred on Saturday June 26, 45 kilometers from the finish of the first stage in Landerneau, in Finistère.

At the origin of this accident, a spectator, who waved a sign with her back to the direction of the race, and who was struck by the peloton, causing the fall of many runners.

Read also: The Tour de France files a complaint against the spectator who held up a sign and caused a collective fall

The German Tony Martin, who hit this sign, fell and dragged on the ground, by a domino effect, other runners, “of

which one of them, the German Jasha Sutterlin, was forced to abandonment

”, specifies in

Figaro

the deputy director of the Tour Pierre-Yves Thouault, specifying that,“

for a cyclist to abandon, there must be significant injuries

”.

A call for witnesses

A judicial investigation was opened for "involuntary injuries with incapacity not exceeding three months by manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence", indicated the gendarmerie of Finistère on Facebook, specifying that a call for witnesses has also been launched. The investigators thus claim to seek a woman "

wearing glasses and dressed in blue jeans, a red and white striped sweater, a yellow jacket (waxed type)

", specifying that the latter "

holds a sign supporting the inscription "GO OPI-OMI!"

".

This morning, the deputy director of the Tour took stock with the Landerneau gendarmes, but the latter "

had no new information

" to communicate. “

The investigation is continuing, but above all we have lodged a complaint because it is a way to mark the spirits and to recall the rules of common sense and safety. This is unacceptable behavior, but it is a tiny part of spectators who behave like that. There, it was simply because the person wanted to be on television,

”continues Pierre-Yves Thouault.

The spectator got scared and therefore fled, but it was not a voluntary act, it was inattention. There was no desire to harm the peloton and the riders,

one of the organizers

also told

Le Figaro

. “

Above all, we lodged a complaint so that the riders and the teams could have legal support, especially the foreign teams, but also to mark the occasion. For years we have been broadcasting safety messages, we have pre-race cars that warn spectators, but also awareness campaigns in each region crossed,

”he underlines.

"

The heroes are the runners, not the people who come to pass a message with a sign to go on TV,

" Lieutenant-Colonel Joël Scherer told AFP, while conceding that the incident of Saturday was the result of "

individual behavior

". At the end of this impressive fall, some 500 gendarmes were distributed over the course of the second stage.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-06-28

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