Tour de France fans slammed for ‘disrespectful' grave act
Stage two of the world's biggest annual cycling event rounded off in Boulogne-sur-Mer, in the north of the France.
The race saw Mathieu van der Poel beat Tadej Pogacar in a sprint finish to give the Dutchman the leader's yellow jersey.
Watch the biggest Aussie sports & the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.
With 8.6km remaining until the finish line, fans gathered on the edge of a cemetery to be as near the action as possible on Sunday.
Hundreds of people seemed to trample on graves along the side of the road, behind advertising boards, The Sun reports.
You can watch the disturbing footage in the player at the top of the page.
That provoked outrage among many cycling fans, who felt the onlookers showed a lack of respect.
One fan wrote on X: 'They no longer even see that they're standing on graves. Not out of hatred, but because they no longer know what respect is.'
A second said: 'No respect for neither the living nor the dead.'
A third added: 'This is so disrespectful. I hope they're standing on ground between the graves and the road.'
A local said: 'It's shameful to the people of my town.'
Two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard finished third behind reigning champion Pogacar, while Britain's Oscar Onley crossed the line in sixth.
Earlier on Sunday, French team Cofidis said that 11 bikes were stolen from their team truck after the opening stage.
In a statement, the team said that the door of their equipment truck was forced open, and their Look bikes were taken 'despite the security measures put in place'.
Each bike stolen is estimated to be worth around £11,200.
All riders at the Tour generally have at least three bikes - their preferred one and two spares.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
SBS Australia
2 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Tour de France Femmes: Local hero Squiban claims back-to-back wins
Australia's Sarah Gigante has kept pace with the Tour de France Femmes leaders as France's Maeva Squiban delighted home fans with a solo victory in the seventh stage. The overnight victory was Squiban's second in two days, making her only the fourth rider to claim back-to-back stages at the race. Gigante, who moved into the leading group after finishing in the leading pack on Thursday AEST, came home in 16th place for the second day running, one minute and 11 seconds behind the winner. The result meant the AG Insurance-Soudal rider slipped a place to eighth in the general classification, one minute and 14 seconds behind yellow jersey wearer Kimberley Le Court Pienaar. Squiban, 23, made pace on the upper slopes of the Col du Granier to reach the finish of the hilly stage alone, which lifted the UAE Team ADQ rider to second in the polka dot jersey standings, level on 17 points with Dutchwoman Silke Smulders. 'You have to give everything' "Honestly, winning once on the Tour is already huge and now a second was an incredible day. I think it was one of the hardest days of my life, mentally as well as physically. But you have to give everything," Squiban said. "On the last climb, I just wanted to lie down on the ground, and by the end, I think for the last 15 kilometres, I was barely present — I couldn't hear anything in my ear." It was another French one-two as Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) crossed the line 51 seconds behind Squiban to take second place, and American Ruth Edwards was third. A 17-rider breakaway had lit up the 159.7 kilometre stage from Bourg-en-Bresse, with Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal) becoming the first Irish rider to win an intermediate sprint at the Tour. The move split on the Cote de Saint-Franc before Squiban's decisive attack on the final climb. Mauritian rider Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) lost ground on the Granier but finished sixth to retain the yellow jersey. Le Court is ahead of Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Visma-Lease a Bike) by 26 seconds and Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) by 30 seconds. Mountains classification leader Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) endured a difficult day and was distanced from the peloton before Squiban's climb. Ruby Roseman-Gannon was the only other Australian rider to finish inside the top 100 and she is 68th overall. Sunday's mountain stage will be from Chambery to Saint-Francois-Longchamp. The place to watch the 2025 Tour de France — live, free and exclusive — plus the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is right here on the SBS On Demand Hub .
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
France's Maeva Squiban wins second straight Tour de France Femmes stage on final climb
France's Maeva Squiban has delighted home fans with a solo victory on stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes, her second win in two days, becoming only the fourth rider to claim back-to-back stages at the race. The 23-year-old attacked on the upper slopes of the Col du Granier (8.9km at 5.4 per cent) on Friday, local time, to reach the finish of the hilly stage alone, which lifted the UAE Team ADQ rider to second in the polka dot jersey standings, level on 17 points with Dutchwoman Silke Smulders. "Honestly, winning once on the Tour is already huge and now a second win … It was an incredible day. I think it was one of the hardest days of my life, mentally as well as physically. But you have to give everything," Squiban said. "On the last climb, I just wanted to lie down on the ground, and by the end, I think for the last 15 kilometres, I was barely present — I couldn't hear anything in my ear." Do you have a story idea about women in sport? Email us abcsport5050@ It was another French one-two as Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) crossed the line 51 seconds behind Squiban to take second place, and American Ruth Edwards claimed third. Australia's Sarah Gigante came 16th on the stage, 1 minute 11 seconds behind the stage winner. She now sits in eight place in the overall standings, 1:14 behind the yellow jersey, Mauritian rider Kimberley Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal). A 17-rider breakaway had lit up the 159.7km stage from Bourg-en-Bresse, with Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal) becoming the first Irish rider to win an intermediate sprint at the Tour. The move split on the Cote de Saint-Franc before Squiban's decisive attack on the final climb. Le Court Pienaar lost ground on the Granier but finished sixth to retain the yellow jersey. Le Court is ahead of Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Visma-Lease a Bike) by 26 seconds and Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) by 30 seconds. Mountains classification leader Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) endured a difficult day and was distanced from the peloton before Squiban's climb. Saturday's mountain stage will be from Chambery to Saint-Francois-Longchamp. Reuters/ABC
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Red Bull cops official warning as Max throws white towel
Lando Norris completed a commanding 'double top' on Friday with the fastest times ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The 25-year-old Briton, who is 16 points behind Piastri in the drivers' title race, clocked a best lap in 1:15.624 to outpace the Australian by 0.291 seconds after a tense second session at the Hungaroring circuit. 'The car felt pretty good from the first lap,' he said. 'And all of my laps were decent, but the second session was a bit more messy with more mistakes. But that's all part of practice I guess. 'We have a good understanding and I know what I want from my car, but of course it is difficult to get it. I have a better car than last year, when I was on pole, and so should have a better chance, but there is tough competition.' Just Lando and Oscar almost colliding at Turn 1... in practice 😵 #F1 #HungarianGP — Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2025 Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari, adrift by nearly four-tenths, ahead of the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari. George Russell was seventh for Mercedes ahead of Racing Bulls' rookie Isack Hadjar, Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull and Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes. All this left four-time champion Max Verstappen, grumbling throughout about his car's poor balance and performance, down in 14th place, 1.167 seconds off the pace and three tenths adrift of his teammate. To make matters worse for the Dutchman, who described his car as 'undriveable', his Red Bull team picked up an official warning into his disposal of a cloth towel from his cockpit during the session. The towel had been left in his car after a pitstop and was a possible danger to his driving if it fell from his lap area between his legs or the car's pedals. Red Bull were warned of the 'unsafe release' of the car from the pits. 'It was just a towel that you normally wipe your face with when you come back in so it was still in the car when I went out,' Verstappen said. 'Instead of leaving it to, potentially, maybe, fly in between my feet, which is the dangerous part, I drove off the racing line and got rid of it in the safest possible way. 'I think the stewards understood that.' From the start, it was clear that the duelling McLaren title protagonists were in no mood to take the session lightly as they traded best laps and, in a final late incident, ran close to making contact as Norris locked up and Piastri swept past him around Turn One. On a bright, dry afternoon, Nico Hulkenberg - who had missed the first session to give reserve driver Paul Aron an outing for Sauber - was first out and within five minutes ran wide and scattered gravel across the track. FP2 CLASSIFICATION McLarens on top, both Astons in the top five ðŸ'� #F1 #HungarianGP — Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2025 As Norris and Piastri dominated, endorsing the clear impression that a McLaren intra-team duel was in prospect for Sunday's race, Verstappen was down in 10th, adrift by a second, and reported, when asked about his car's balance, that it was like 'driving on ice'. His teammate Tsunoda was a tenth faster in ninth. Showing signs that he was feeling the pressure, Norris endured 'a moment' when he slid wide on the grass at the final corner and recovered with 15 minutes remaining on used softs.
