At the Tour de France, a selfie-taking fan creates a catastrophic collision.

 A accident involving about 20 bikes was triggered by a spectator trying to snap a picture.

When a spectator took a picture during the 15th stage of the Tour de France, it drastically changed the course of the race and included almost 20 cyclists. Despite the horrific event, Jonas Vingegaard, the reigning champion, kept a 10-second advantage over Tadej Pogacar and Dutch cyclist Wout Poels won the stage.

Tour de France: spectator causes massive peloton pile-up for the sake of a selfie. SMH.

A fan accidentally knocked Sepp Kuss, a teammate of Vingegaard from Team Jumbo-Visma, off his handlebars as they extended their phone towards the riders. Kuss lost control of his bike and crashed along with teammate Nathan van Hooydonck, which caused a sizable chunk of the peloton to fall. Surprisingly, all of the cyclists who were injured in the collision finished the 179-kilometer stage from Les Gets les Portes du Soleil to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc.

Kuss said, "There was a narrowing in the town and a spectator in the road, and I guess he just clipped my handlebars," when asked about the event. Fortunately, I'm fine, and I'm hoping the other people in the collision are too. It's not the best. Kuss acknowledged that his weariness was a factor in the accident.

The Tour de France's official Twitter account posted a slow-motion video of a rider just avoiding a spectator's outstretched arm after the accident, along with a statement pleading with followers to pay attention to the riders' safety. Teams like Jumbo-Visma, Confidis, and Ineos Grenadiers also emphasised how crucial it is to exercise caution and provide enough room for cyclists.

This Tour de France-related event involving a spectator is among the worst ever. When a spectator with a sign created a significant pileup on the opening stage of the race in 2021, it was a similar incident. Due to injuries, several cyclists withdrew from the race. Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour, responded by emphasising the need for fans to put the cyclists' safety ahead of their own need for attention.

While such events are concerning, they also highlight the need for taking further steps to ensure the riders' safety. Just before the Tour de France this year, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) unveiled the SafeR programme, which aims to strengthen crowd control and improve safety evaluations during high-speed descents. Road cycling's nature, which entails intimate contacts between spectators and riders, creates continual difficulties that need for constant attention. Wout Poels celebrated his first stage victory in a Grand Tour during the actual race. Poels, who was running for Team Bahrain Victorious, finished astonishingly two minutes and eight seconds before Wout van Aert, with Mathieu Burgaudeau taking third. Pogacar and Vingegaard completed the stage in six minutes and four seconds.

The Tour de France will return on Tuesday with a 22.4-kilometer time trial from Passy to Combloux following a rest day on Monday.