Spectators Out of Control at the Tour de France

One of the charming aspects of the Tour de France, the ongoing 21-stage championship bicycle tour that covers this beautiful country, is the presence of the fans along the roadway, urging on the contestants.  At each stage's final mile or so, the concentration of roadside spectators is naturally the thickest...and here is where we're seeing some serious problems.  In just about every race I've watched...the Tour is broadcast on NBCSports (Gainesville Cox Channel 33)...there are segments in which the crowd impinges on the roadway where the cyclists are racing, sometimes reaching out to touch them or running extremely close beside them.  This type of interference makes me cringe when I see it, and I wonder why those organizing these races have allowed it to go on.  Once I even saw one such spectator, ludicrously dressed up like a chicken, reach over at a cyclist...and then receive a harsh punch in the face from said cyclist, making him stagger backwards in a daze.  I did a fist-pump in the air when I saw that, feeling only slightly ashamed at taking such vicarious pleasure in an act of violence against another...albeit one justified by the circumstances.  But as bad as that incidence was, the fan interference level reached an intolerable stage a few days ago when three cyclists, including current tour leader Chris Froome...only one kilometer away from their stage's finish line...suffered a collision with a camera-equipped motorcycle when the crowds closed in on them, allowing only single-line riding and no passing on an already narrow, uphill road.  Froome got up from his fall and, seeing his bicycle damaged and unrideable, then began to run uphill toward the finish.  Eventually, a workable bicycle was provided and he finished the race...only after a later review did the Tour authorities restore his lead, which he had lost due to this inexcusable interference...

I don't know why people feel the need to get in the middle of the road and obstruct the bicycle race.  It is difficult enough for the competitors to try to figure out how to outmaneuver each other for an advantage without foolish spectators jumping into their path.  But will those running the Tour de France do anything to restrain them in the future?  Probably not.  Sigh...