Viewers of the biggest cycling race in the world have couldn't believe their eyes when they saw on-site spectators taking a cheeky vantage point.
The Tour de France, which was won by Tadej Pogačar in 2024, held its second stage yesterday (July 6) where the racers headed to Boulogne-sur-Mer - 25 miles outside of Calais.
On the day, Pogačar went toe-to-toe with Mathieu van der Poel in a thrilling sprint finish, yet a select few in attendance at the side of the track displayed some twisted sense of entitlement as they tried to catch a glimpse of the action.
Where they decided to stand has since caused uproar on social media.
Advert
In a photo uploaded to X, a line of the crowd clearly thought nothing of standing on the edge of a cemetery to get the best view.
"They no longer even see that they're trampling on graves. Not out of hatred, but because they no longer know what respect is," suggested one enraged sports fan.
"When a person believes in nothing anymore, even the dead become invisible," read another critique.
A third individual argued: "The average French person has a simply astounding level of stupidity, [it is] quite frankly embarrassing," before a fifth added: "No respect for neither the living nor the dead."
The rebukes only grew from there though, with another Tour de France viewer pointing out: "You have those who go to pay their respects at their loved ones' graves and clean and maintain their tombs once a week or more. And you have the disrespectful ones who want to be in the best spot to watch guys on bikes pass by for a few seconds."
And yet, this argument didn't hold ground with a separate section of the viewership, who believed there might've been space between the final resting places and the wall they were peering over.
"Between the grave and the low wall there is a space, nothing says they climbed onto the graves," somebody argued.
"It’s shameful to slander the people of my town to make them seem disrespectful, as long as there's no damage, I don't see what the problem is," was another opinion.
Three years ago, Tour de France riders were targeted by 'morons' armed with nails during the second stage.
As they passed through the Basque Country, multiple athletes reported suffering punctures whilst travelling through the Spanish countryside - imagine your 209km in a single day being compromised like that!
One of the complainants was French star Lilian Calmejane, who shared a picture of the damage his bike had taken.
"Thank you for this kind of human bulls***," he tweeted alongside it. "I don’t think I was the only victim of a puncture in the end... know that you can fall and get really hurt with your bulls**t, you morons."
On race radio, there were a number of punctures reported around 20km from the finishing point for the day. 15 or 20 racers were involved, and the race organiser ASO launched an investigation into what happened.
Topics: Sport, Europe, Twitter, Social Media
Dan Seddon