When races on foot or bicycle go through public spaces, you can usually find plenty of people gathered on the sides of the course with homemade signs to cheer on the participants. This is, in nearly all cases, both wholly understandable and very endearing. Unfortunately, there are a handful of instances where a sign ends up doing far more harm than good — and earlier this year, an example of this took place at the Tour de France.
A fan holding up a sign veered too closely into the course route, causing a massive pile-up on June 26, leading to eight competitors being injured and another two leaving the race altogether. The fan in question then went missing, further complicating matters for a few days. Eventually, she turned herself in and was arrested.
Now, as The Washington Post reports, a court has levied a fine against her, and it’s…not all that much, relatively speaking. The fan in question will have to pay $1,350, plus one Euro paid directly to the National Union of Professional Cyclists. The latter is a symbolic fine; as Eurosport reports, the prosecutors in the case had also requested that the fan receive a four-month suspended sentence.
As the Post notes in its report, the woman has expressed regret for her actions, and it looks like both sides have backed down from what may have been more aggressive and defensive stances, respectively. And while $1,350 isn’t a small amount of money, it feels about right for something that was, ultimately, an accident caused by someone being overly enthusiastic.
We can only hope that at next year’s Tour de France, everyone involved keeps a safe distance back from the roadway, signs or no signs.
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