During the fourth stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, a 5 day Italian road cycling race, two intoxicated spectators attempted to steal a bike from the team car of Team Visma | Lease a Bike.
One of the intoxicated fans climbed onto the team car, attempting to remove one of the bikes from the roof. The other spectator behaved extremely aggressively towards the occupants of the car.
“We take this incident very seriously, as it put the safety of our colleagues at risk. Our staff on site immediately went to the police and also reported the incident to the race organization. In the end, no equipment was stolen and no damage was caused. The colleagues in the car are okay, but understandably shaken.” – Richard Plugge, General Manager of Team Visma | Lease a Bike.
Cycling seems to have a bit of an issue with invasive fans, whether they’re running into the course, throwing things at athletes, or attempting to steal bikes. Every year wilder and wilder stuff seems to happen, but it doesn’t seem like there’s much drive to change things.
