The Tour de France just started — and a fan has already caused a crash

You may have blissfully forgotten about how bad people can be while you were living in isolation during the pandemic, but don't you worry, the spectators of the Tour de France are here to make you nostalgic for the time when we weren't allowed to watch sports in a crowd.

The 2021 Tour began bright and early Saturday morning in the western port city of Brest, but barely 28 miles into the 2,121-mile, 23-day race there's already been an enormous crash — all caused by some person trying to get a sign on the TV cameras:

The sign appears to catch German rider Tony Martin, causing what seems like half of the whole Tour to go down behind him:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The race was held up for five minutes, France24 reports, as everyone untangled themselves.

Crashes in the Tour de France can be extremely scary, but despite the carnage, only one rider, Germany's Jasha Sutterlin of DSM, has had to pull from the race so far, France24 adds.