After causing a massive pileup of cyclists during the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, the unidentified female spectator who initiated the crash has gone missing as authorities attempt to find her.
Standing next to the road with a sign paying tribute to her grandparents bearing the German terms of endearment “ALLEZ OPI-OMI,” the woman made contact with Germany’s Tony Martin, who lost his balance and set off a chain reaction that sent numerous other cyclists crashing to the ground. The crash, which occurred on a stretch of the race in which there are no crowd-control barriers, was the first of the day.
“We are suing this woman who behaved so badly,” Pierre-Yves Thouault, the tour’s deputy director, told Agence France-Presse. “We are doing this so that the tiny minority of people who do this don’t spoil the show for everyone.”
Authorities are still looking for the woman, but French publication Ouest-France reported she got on a flight out of France and is untraceable.
“We haven’t heard back from them yet,” Thouault told Reuters. “We are going to repeat our calls for fans to behave time and again, through the police on the side of the road and our social network. Most of the fans are peaceful but I want to stress that you come see the Tour, you don’t take selfies, you keep your kids close to you.”
In a press release issued Saturday, the National Gendarmerie said an investigation had been opened into injuries caused by the “manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence.” A spokesperson with the national police force speaking with NBC News on Monday said they are still looking for the woman and called her actions “imprudent.”
Following the incident, the Tour de France Twitter issued a public service announcement asking spectators not to “risk everything for a photo or to get on television.”
Julian Alaphilippe won Saturday’s 122.9-mile stage from Brest to Landerneau with blood dripping from a scraped knee he suffered along the way.
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