A man has been arrested for “aggravated violence” after crisps were thrown at Tour de France front-runners Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, according to reports in France.
Reigning Tour champion Vingegaard was seen on TV having a bag of crisps thrown at his head during stage 14 on Saturday, with footage then revealed that the same individual had appeared to target race leader Pogacar as well.
Le Parisien reported on Sunday that witnesses at the scene saw the man, who was bare-chested and holding a flag of Brittany, being detained by police shortly after the incidents and taken away in a police car.
“He was with a group of very nice friends, cycling fans, like us,” a man named Alexis, who was roadside near the suspected individual, told Le Parisien. “We got to know each other well, talked about everything, cycling, Brittany and played shuffleboard. But he had a very drunken afternoon.”
Alexis said that a nearby police officer saw the incident happen and intervened shortly afterwards, leading him away.
The Professional Cyclists’ Association (CPA) said in a statement issued after Saturday’s stage that it will take legal action against the spectator who threw the crisps.
Charging solo up the last stretch of Pla d’Adet, Pogacar had to dodge a fan who leaped out to hurl a bag of crisps at the Slovenian UAE Team Emirates leader.
The spectator did the same thing to Visma-Lease A Bike’s Vingegaard, as the Dane came past the same stretch of road moments later.
“The CPA will take legal action against this guy with pleasure due to what he did to both Pogacar and Vingegaard,” CPA president Adam Hansen wrote in a post on X on Saturday.
“This is disrespectful and will not be tolerated.”
Vingegaard finished 39 seconds behind Pogacar, while Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, who was second in the general classification before stage 14, finished 1min 10sec behind, meaning he slipped to third overall behind the Dane.
“There was quite a bit of booing and someone was throwing chips, I heard also they threw the chips at Tadej and that’s strange to do,” Vingegaard said after the stage. “Just stay off the road. I don’t understand why you go to a bike race and boo at people.”
Source Agencies
