A woman who caused a crash at the start of the Tour de France this year while holding a sign greeting her grandparents is to go on criminal trial this week in France.
The 31-year-old woman, who lives in Finistère,
will go on trial on Thursday. She is being prosecuted
for "endangering others" and on a charge of "involuntary injuries"
resulting in incapacity from work "not exceeding three months".
If convicted, she faces a fine of up
to €15,000 and a one-year prison sentence arising from the crash she caused on
stage 1 of the Tour on June 26th.
According to reports in France today,
she will appear before the Criminal Court of Brest in Finistère on Thursday.
She handed herself into police four days after the crash and was detained
overnight before being released.
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The public prosecutor of Brest,
Camille Miansoni, said: “The respondent expressed a feeling of shame, of fear
in the face of the consequences of his act. She says she is distressed by the
media coverage of what she calls her stupidity."
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On the opening day of the Tour, about
45km from the finish, the woman stepped into the road with a sign that read ‘Go
Opi-Omi’ – a greeting sign for her grandparents in a mix of French and German.
She was not looking at the riders at the time and was
instead looking ahead at the TV motorbike as it passed, in an apparent effort
to get on the TV.
Tony Martin (Jumbo Visma) was on the front of the bunch
at the time and as the road was packed he had nowhere to go put hit the woman
in the back. The impact spun her around and sent Martin crashing to the ground,
with many other riders also crashing, some of them very hard.
Jasha Sütterlin (Team DSM) was forced out of the race due
to his injuries. Marc Soler (Movistar) fractured both of his arms and while he
rode to the finish he did not start the next day.
While Tony Martin continued in the race he has since
retired. He cut his contract with Jumbo Visma short by one year and cited the
crash, and the risks it reminded him of, as the main reason for his decision to
go.
