- A woman holding a large sign caused Tour de France cyclist to crash on Saturday.
- Event organizers say they will sue the spectator, Agence France-Presse reported.
- The woman fled the scene, regional paper Ouest France reported.
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The woman who caused a huge crash at the Tour de France race on Saturday will be sued, an organizer said.
"We are suing this woman who behaved so badly," Pierre-Yves Thouault, the tour's deputy director, told Agence France-Presse. "We are doing this so that the tiny minority of people who do this don't spoil the show for everyone."
On Saturday, a spectator held up a large sign that was sticking out into the middle of the road. Tony Martin on the Jumbo-Visma team hit the cardboard sign. The sign read "ALLEZ OPI-OMI!," which was a message saying hello to their grandparents.
Martin lost his balance and that caused a chain reaction where dozens of cyclists fell onto the pavement.The woman appeared to not be paying attention to the incoming cyclists but was instead looking at the TV cameras.
Several cyclists continued on the race with injuries including bloody arms and legs. Others, like Jasha Sütterlin of Team DSM had to stop. Sütterlin was taken to the hospital to be examined and suffered a severe contusion to his right wrist, a statement said.
A second crash happened later on a few miles down the road but the cause was unclear.
Quoting regional newspaper Ouest France, AFP reported that the woman fled the scene. The woman can be seen with a yellow coat, and authorities are calling on witnesses to come forward to help find her, the BBC reported.
