"Don’t run next to the riders, even if you’re a banana!" - Tour organizers warn fans to refrain from reckless behaviour
CyclingTuesday, 07 July 2026 at 09:00
Tour de France is a special event. For riders and fans alike, it can often be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of the race. That is why many of the spectators are willing to go the extra mile to grab the attention of TV cameras. And to step their experience up a level.
As much is fine, but when your actions begin to influence the race - let alone endanger cyclists - that's where a line is being crossed.
One such close-to-be incident occured as soon as the race's second stage breakaway hit first categorized climb. A fan in banana costume started to sprint alongside the three escapees, which has earned him a couple hostile looks and a slap by rolled newspapers by fellow spectator. Hopefully enough to prevent this individual from repeating such dangerous stunts.
Sharing a clip of the incident on social media, the Tour organisers made their first plea of the race for roadside spectators to be mindful when displaying their enthusiasm for the world’s biggest bike race and its participants. "Don’t run next to the riders, even if you’re a banana!" the Tour’s social media account advised.
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Later in the stage, the organisers also warned fans not to bring flares to the roadside, after a smoke bomb was set off as the peloton climbed to the top of Montjuïc during the finishing circuits in Barcelona.
🚫 No, just no. Please don't use flares on roadside!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 5, 2026
🚫 Juste non. S'il vous plait, n'utilisez pas de fumigènes au bord de la route !#TDF2026 pic.twitter.com/fEyuYoIU7m
"It’s a mixed bag, really," Alex Dowsett, working at the Tour as a performance engineer for XDS Astana, told road.cc. "If it’s not impacting the front, it’s okay. There needs to be a balance. It’s kind of what professional cycling is synonymous with, though."
"It’s part of the charm, I think. If you start putting barriers up like Formula One, cycling’s going to lose what makes it special. It’s like everything in life, a balance just has to be had. But I think it’s right that the organisers are exercising caution on fans to placate any enthusiasm that might happen later in the race."
Have social media made things worse?
Dowsett is concerned that the fans' behaviour has changed over the years: "Perhaps in the day and age of social media and virality on social media, I would question whether the fans’ motivation is to create rather than be a part of the race."
"Back in the day, it was probably about perhaps getting on TV, but being part of a race, just you get a snapshot of riders whizzing by, that’s cycling. So if you run with them for a bit, you’re getting a longer snapshot."
"But if fans are doing it actually not for the race, and they’re doing it for their own ambitions of appearing on screen somewhere, then that’s the balance going the wrong way."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Well, as I already said in reply to you, he's not riding for GC this tour so he's probably intentionally shipping some time so he can get in the breaks.antipodeanpedalfan07-07-2026
- For once I agree with you. That 'You like the glory, don't you' line would have been derided in any other sport. And as Pog said, every rider dreams of that. Jonas seemed to enjoy being feted in Denmark after his Tour wins, and why shouldn't he. Top athletes shouldn't be shamed for that.Hills3307-07-2026
- More likely dreaming of retirement now!Hills3307-07-2026
- What about Pogi's interview yesterday, after the race. The BS french interviewer right after the finish asking Pogi: "you're hungry?" and "do you like the glory?" to which Pogi replied: "I want to go ride the rollers now"... translation: "GFY" ("Go f* yourself"). The problem with the french journalist is, Pogi isn't like Lance; he is well-liked by the peloton. So they don't have the juicy story to tell. The french TdF media just want to make up a conspiracy theory. I'm tired of reading/listening to stupid interviews. Why don't they ask something more substantial? It's a race. The goal of racing is winning. Whether it's a stage, the overall, the sprint or whatever. Suddenly, when Pogi wins a stage, he commits a mortal sin. As a fan, I want to see the best rider wipe out everyone. It's up to his rival to make him earn every single win. Maybe they need to start making themselves more versatile instead of just focusing on losing weight and having boring races. This is partly the reason why Pogi looked so annoyed last year in the final week. He was sick, hurt his knee and on top of all that the media were asking him these dumb questions daily. How many times does he have to tell you that he's being payed to win races and he's obligated to finish off the work of the whole team. After his team worked for 100km in this stage what exactly is he supposed to do? Roll over and say: "well, you guys can have this win, I'm just gonna chill here." Idiots...mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales07-07-2026
- The BS french interviewer right after the finish telling Pogi "you're hungry" and "you like the glory" to which Pogi replied "I want to go ride the rollers now"... translation "GFY ("Go f* yourself"**). The problem with the french journalist now is, Pogi isn't like Lance; he is well-liked by the peloton. So they don't have the juicy story to tell. The french TdF media just made up a conspiracy theory. I'm tired of reading/listening to stupid interviews. Why don't they ask something more substantial? It's a race. The goal of racing is winning. Whether it's a stage, the overall, the sprint or whatever. Suddenly, when Pogi wins a stage, he commits a mortal sin. As a fan, I want to see the best rider wipe out everyone. It's up to his rival to make him earn every single win. Maybe they need to start making themselves more versatile instead of just focusing on losing weight.mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales07-07-2026
- United States of America should also be banned from most sports, except their BS American footbal and baseball. Since the orange orangutan Trump came into power, USA is no longer a democracy. Let's look at the facts: -They attacked Iran and immediatley killed over 150 young girls in a school. -Trump allowed Netanyahu kill over 20.000 children in Gaza and about 75.000 people overall. -Trump, the American dictator, attacked Venezuela and is thinking about attacking Cuba. -Trump wanted to attack Greenland, the EU and Canadian leaders luckily stopped him. -Trump wanted to make Canada it's 51'st state -Trump put tariffs to all EU countries -Trump adores Putin -Trumps ICE agents (his personal army) are deporting many innocent people and murdering it's own citizen Americans -Trump took away health care to millions of people that can't afford it -USA are at this moment the most hated country in the world... the No.1 hated country in Europe Now, my dear Andrew, this is your "democratic" America.mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales07-07-2026
- When answering questions, you don't have to whine.MajorPayne07-07-2026
- In case you didn't realize, my post wasn't a response to yours. You were talking about team funding and human rights. But if you look at Rafionain-Glas' posts, you can read in every one of his posts a huge intolerance towards Pogi.MajorPayne07-07-2026
- this is no surprise at all, never have I seen such a malcontent. People love going to Visma - look at Jorgensen. this guy is never happy, never a winner. I don’t know why he gets all these headlines.mij07-07-2026
- Irony that people whine so much about remco just responding to questions and giving cycling some more flare. Y'all need to grow upbruins3007-07-2026
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