Tour de France crisp thrower released without charge after night in the cells

The fallout and drama from the controversial scenes of corwd trouble, on the infamous slopes of Pla d'Adet, on stage 14 of the 2024 Tour de France continues.

Whilst Tadej Pogacar was riding clear to another stage win on Saturday afternoon, one fan got a little too close for comfort to the Maillot Jaune on the Pla d'Adet, seemingly waving a crisp packet in the face of the UAE Team Emirates leader, forcing Pogacar to swerve out of the way to avoid a head on collision. When Jonas Vingegaard followed a few moments later, the drunken man at the roadside was present again, throwing a handful of items right into the face of the defending Tour de France champion.

Reaction online was understandably not too kind to the man in question and soon, even the French police were getting involved and was arrested and then placed in police custody for aggravated violence. After a night in the drunk cells however, he has now been released without charge.

The spectator had been taken into custody on Saturday "especially given his state of drunkenness and while waiting to find out if the cyclists and their teams wanted to file a complaint", the prosecutor's office told AFP on Sunday. As it turned out, neither Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike or Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates looked to press charges, leaving the man able to walk free without any serious repercussions.

Although it may the a packet of crisps isn't a big deal, something as simple as that could have easily derailed Pogacar's attack or Vingegaard's chase. If, whilst weaving to avoid the drunken 'fan' waving things in their face they had crashed or fell off their bike for example, the repercussions could have been significantly more severe, both for the crisp thrower and Pogacar and Vingegaard.