Tour de France 2024 Rest Day 2 ***SPOILERS***

"He spent a very drunken afternoon": the spectator who threw crisps at Pogacar taken into custody

INFO LE PARISIEN. The young man who threw crisps at Pogacar and Vingegaard was arrested by the gendarmes and taken into custody for aggravated assault. After spending the night in a custody, he will be questioned this Sunday.

"It was a great afternoon at the Tour de France, with lots of people celebrating, meeting new people and being passionate about cycling, until this stupid gesture". Alexis, in his thirties and originally from Brittany, was very close to the arch indicating the finish, two kilometres from this Saturday's stage, which finished in Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet (Hautes-Pyrénnées).

Except that his day of festivities with his two friends was slightly tarnished by the gesture of the spectator opposite him, on the other side of the road. This other young man, born in 1992, with whom he had made friends in the afternoon, deliberately threw crisps in the faces of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a bike) as they passed in front of him. He was taken into police custody for aggravated assault and will be questioned this Sunday. He was unable to be questioned the day before, as he was waiting to be sobered up.

The image was captured by the television cameras following the two champions and quickly made the rounds on social networks, outraging many internet users. The CPA, the riders' union, announced via its president, Adam Hamsem, that it would be taking legal action against the person responsible for this gesture. At the finish, Vingegaard, the two-time defending champion, said he did not "understand those who go to a bike race to throw chips".

Stopped by a policeman who saw the scene

Alexis shares his incomprehension, realising after the riders had passed that he had immortalised the moment in a series of photos. Before seeing the outrage on social networks.

"He was with a group of very nice friends, cycling fans like us. We got to know each other well, talked about everything, cycling, Brittany and played shuffleboard," says the young man. But it was a very drunken afternoon. According to Alexis, a nearby policeman who saw the scene intervened immediately after the gesture against the Visma leader. Bob on his head, shirtless and flying the flag for Brittany, all he saw were these two riders.

"He pushed him off the road in a rather curt manner and a police car arrived behind the barriers to pick him up less than five minutes later", continued the witness, who "doesn't understand why he did it". According to our information, he has been taken into custody. When contacted, the Tour's organiser, ASO, said it would not be pressing charges.

In his opinion, alcohol could have been the main reason for this behaviour, which could have had major consequences for the riders. "It didn't seem premeditated. After the riders had passed, his friends were surprised. It wasn't their first Tour, obviously, but it was the first time he'd done something stupid like that. The group of friends wondered how they were going to get their misbehaving friend back.

In the meantime, Alexis and his two friends, who were impressed by Pogacar's performance, had to return to the Rennes region (Ille-et-Vilaine), where the disrespectful spectator was also from. "We're cyclotourists, and we've been able to climb a few passes in the Pyrenees over the last few days, so it's been fun," he concludes. More fun than witnessing this unfortunate gesture.