What was on Tour de France fan’s hand-written sign that caused biggest crash in decades?
ONE fan’s hand-written sign at the Tour de France caused one of the biggest crashes in decades.
The spectator was stood holding up a cardboard sign with ‘Allez Opi-Omi!’ written on it in black marker.
It translates to ‘Come on granddad-granny’, in a mix of French and German.
The fan was looking straight at the TV camera on the passing bike and failed to notice the riders rapidly approaching her spot.
Just minutes after Christian Prudhomme had set the 108th edition of the annual bike race in motion, the carnage ensued on stage one.
Martin, on the right-hand side of the peleton, had no way to avoid her and went down after crashing into her arm, taking the whole Jumbo Visma team with him.
Arnaud Demare, Julian Alaphilippe, Marc Hirschi and Sonny Colbrelli were among the riders involved in the pile-up.
A second mass pile-up later occurred just 8km short of the finish line and injured more riders, wreaking more havoc on the opening day.
Cycling News released a list of all those who had been hurt — with the injured totalling 26.
Four-time winner Chris Froome – who was returning to the Tour as a support rider for the first time since his career-changing 2019 smash – was among those involved in the later crash.
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The 36-year-old suffered a nasty fall while Andre Greipel was also taken out on to the grass verge on the right-hand side of the road.
Froome did manage to mount his bike once again to finish after he was given the once-over by doctors.
He tweeted: “No fractures thankfully but there’s a lot of swelling & bruising to my left leg and thorax.
“I’m going to try get a good night’s rest & see how things look in the morning before making any decisions with the medical team.”
Meanwhile, world champion Julian Alaphilippe ultimately became the first French rider in 20 years to win the opening stage of the Tour de France.