"Maybe you deserve to get hit" - Lance Armstrong calls out fan hit by INEOS tam car at 2025 Tour de France

The 2025 Tour de France has reached its second and final rest day, and as tradition dictates, pundits and experts are taking stock of everything that has unfolded so far — both in the general classification battle and in the many dramatic moments along the way.

One of the most shocking incidents of the second week was revisited on The Move podcast, where Lance Armstrong shared an explosive opinion that has since drawn widespread criticism. The discussion centred around the moment during Stage 14 when the INEOS Grenadiers team car accidentally struck a spectator who had stepped dangerously close to the road on one of the stage’s brutal climbs.

Bradley Wiggins, speaking on the podcast, pointed out that INEOS had been hit with “one of the biggest fines in Tour de France history—5,000 Swiss francs.”

Armstrong, however, was far from sympathetic. “I disagree with that fine,” he said. “If you’re standing right in the car lane, facing the wrong way trying to take a photo or a video… maybe you deserve to get hit.”

Wiggins stepped in to give his own view, offering a more measured perspective: “If a rider had hit a spectator, the rider would be seen as the victim and the fan would be the one at fault and removed from the course. But because it was a car, the car gets penalised.”

There’s no doubt this incident will go down as one of the most memorable — and divisive — moments of this year’s Tour, which has already delivered a rollercoaster of action with a week still to race. The debate continues: was the fine issued to INEOS Grenadiers truly justified?