he was punched in the kidney actually, in the Tour de France 1975, by some nutcase who didn't want him to win.

Addressing fan interference is possible (put fences) but hard to do in practice...there is a lot of climbing in the Tour, and it's hard to block all accesses.

to add a bit more, Merckx was punched when climbing to the Puy de Dome in stage 14 which was won by Van Impe. He had terrible back pain the following days and lost a big chunk of time the following day, in a stage ending at Pra Loup, a stage won by eventual winner of the TdF75, Bernard Thevenet.

Am I correct in thinking that the organization does not have a method for compensating for the interference? For example, look at the tape and credit the damaged rider with the amount of time he was off the bike? Anything?

I think in Merckx' case it was more of a matter of how he felt the following days as a result. I don't remember Lance getting any time back last year when he was knocked down by the kid with the bag, so I would guess that there is not a compensation although I don't know that for sure.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

you are right. the most recent incident was in the Tour 1999, when Guerini was about 1km from the finish of the Alpe d'Huez, and hit a moron who was taking a picture...he still got back on the bike and won the stage, but it was very close.

Jalabert also hit a cop taking a picture in the tour 1994 in Armentieres...after that he actually became a much better biker overall (and stopped going for the sprints)...

I guess it's hard to implement. Unlike in the US where everything has to be covered (insurance etc. rider complaining or sueing), Europeans tend to like to leave sport things happening...Riders know that cycling involves spectators in close proximity, they know there is a risk, like Lance last year, although it was his fault, as he was riding way too close to the fences. it's part of the game. Merckx never asked for any type of compensation.

Tri N OC,

Are you suggesting that in the event someone is injured by a fan and cannot continue, that they be designated the Tour winner? I think you begin to see how impractical this would be.

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Ben Cline


Better to aspire to Greatness and fail, than to not challenge one's self at all, and succeed.

In light of the fact that there is no remedy, I think those who have been talking about how much the French, Germans, whatever hate Lance might need to take a step back. After all, it seems as if it would have been really easy to make sure he did not win 6 times.

good way to put it...
I think actually that the year Merckx won when Bahamontes crashed, Bahamontes crashed because a fan was at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

hehe...didn't I say that the poll showed 80% liking Lance and wanting him to win the 6th...many still see him as a cancer survivor first and he is liked a lot because of this.
Besides, you can't control everything...one nutcase is enough to change the outcome of the race...
look at monica seles for instance in tennis

Like most things in life, anything can be taken too far.

I was thinking more about an analog to the crash within 1K of the finish of a stage kind of thing. But I agree that it could quickly end up a slippery slope.

It seems a shame that someone could "Tanya Harding" the opposition with impunity. Of course, I expect there WOULD be action taken if things started getting out of hand.