Tour De France
Riders on the floor after Saturday's crash.
Getty/Anne-Christine Poujoulat
  • The Tour de France organizer no longer plans legal action against a spectator who caused a huge crash.
  • The spectator held up a sign before colliding with Jumbo-Visma's Tony Martin, causing a mass pileup.
  • Race director said Thursday that the incident had been "blown out of all proportion."
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Tour de France organizer Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) has withdrawn proposed legal proceedings against a spectator who caused a huge crash on the first day of the race.

The event's deputy director Pierre-Yves Thouault had initially said that the organizers planned to sue the woman who caused the crash by holding a large sign in the path of the race's peloton on Saturday.

However, race director Christian Prudhomme confirmed on Thursday that there are no longer plans for legal action.

"The incident has been blown out of all proportion," Prudhomme told the Agence-France Presse.

"So we'd like to calm things down now that the message has got across that the roadside fans need to be careful."

The woman, who has not been named publicly, was arrested in the town of Landerneau, where Saturday's stage finished, on Wednesday.

While the Tour itself will not take legal action, it is still possible that the woman could be charged by the police, or be sued by individual riders impacted by the crash.

The main victim of the crash was Germany's Jasha Sütterlin who was forced to abandon the race with a severe contusion to his wrist.

French newspaper L'Equipe reported the spectator could face a fine of up to $17,900, or a year in prison, if Sütterlin decides to escalate the case to a criminal case.

Another rider injured in the collison was Marc Soler, who told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia he is considering legal action.

"I don't know what to do, I think I will sue the spectator because it's a whole Tour thrown away and I feel a lot of anger." he said

"We were going through to the front, which is the safest position in case there is an incident, and suddenly I saw the Jumbo fall to my right, and in front of me, I collided with [Mike] Teunissen.

"I flew, tumbled, and landed hard on my hands. They both hurt, as did my face where my glasses had broken and my shoulder too. I tried to stand up but couldn't, I had no strength in my arms.

"When I got to the finish, I was worried about the time limit, but I couldn't even get undressed on the bus, they had to cut them with scissors. Then when we got to the medical truck, they confirmed my injuries."

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