Tour de France drops lawsuit against sign-wielding spectator

Au revoir, lawsuit.

According to Reuters, the Tour de France has dropped its lawsuit against the spectator who caused a massive crash, went missing for a few days, and was later found by police.

The 30-year-old suspect, identified as a French citizen, was taken into custody yesterday in Landerneau. She was accused of involuntarily causing injury and faced a fine of 1,500 euros.

“We are withdrawing our complaint,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme said. “This story has been blown out of proportion but we wish to remind everyone of the safety rules on the race.”

He continued. “If you come to the Tour, you hold your kid, you hold your pet and don’t cross the road carelessly. And above all, you respect the riders - they’re the ones worthy of live TV.” Not, you know, a cardboard sign that translates to “go grandma and grandpa!” in a combination of French and German. That bit of TV fame was definitely not worth it.

The cutout created some real mayhem at Stage 1 of the Tour.

After the opening day incident, race organizers said they would sue the fan. “We are doing this so that the tiny minority of people who do this don’t spoil the show for everyone,” Race deputy director Pierre-Yves Thouault told AFP.

Their attitudes have changed, apparently.

The athletes? Well, they could still sue. Marc Soler, a rider who fractured both arms in the pille-up, hinted that he might take legal action against the spectator. Other riders who were injured and hospitalized from the accident could, too.

The dangerous cycling crashes didn’t stop at Stage 1. For the next two days, athletes complained about course safety. That led to all riders staging a silent protest for safer racing conditions at the start of Stage 4.