TdF fans remove eco protesters who aim to disrupt race.

[Cycleops]

French cycling fans took the initiative to remove eco protesters who planned to disrupt the race:
https://news7f.com/hero-tour-de-fra...eir-own-hands-and-tackle-derniere-renovation/

 

[Slick]

Gotta love the French.

 

[Slick]

I assume that's why part of the course was bereft of fans?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Oddly enough there's already a thread about the TdF https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/tour-de-france-2022-with-spoilers.285509/

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Hmm, blocking a cycling event to complain about environmental issues gives a clue about the thought processes of these people.

 

[Ian H]

As one of the commentators said, protests are part of the fabric & history of the race.

 

[Paulus]

Where is Bernard Hinault when you need him?

 

[a.twiddler]

I would have thought that the impact of the armada of media and support vehicles far outweighs any claim that the TDF may have for being an environmentally friendly event just because it involves bicycles, and however deeply embedded it might be in French culture.

You might not agree with the aims and methods of the protestors but I was more alarmed to see the picture of the gendarme kneeling on that man's neck pinning his face to the ground, and more particularly the girl in the "948 days" t shirt apparently being held by the throat with a gloved hand. Face, neck, airway -surely a massive no no in any scheme of training for restraint.

The article was a bit thin. I doubt that the multi million Euro behemoth that is the TDF will be troubled by a handful of protestors of whatever variety which it seems are a regular feature anyway.

 

[steveindenmark]

Hmm, blocking a cycling event to complain about environmental issues gives a clue about the thought processes of these people.

Oh I dont know. It took the cyclist 17 seconds to pass my house. Then it took over 3 minutes for the entourage and 2 helicopters to pass. Prior to that all sorts of vehicles were passing by for 3 hours. This included lots of French motorcycle police. Thats without all the team coaches and the rest of the circus.

Sorry. I forgot to mention the planes taking them from Sonderborg to France.

It may be a bike race but it is certainly not enviromentally friendly. I dont agree with the protest. But I see their point.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I would have thought that the impact of the armada of media and support vehicles far outweighs any claim that the TDF may have for being an environmentally friendly event just because it involves bicycles,

Not to mention the helicopters and the gazillion camper vans that follow it. And the motorised giant orangina bottles and the lovely ladies throwing plastic tat (aka litter) to the crowd.

I love it but it's about as environmentally friendly as F1, probably less so

 

[mjr]

I love it but it's about as environmentally friendly as F1, probably less so

I expect F1 burns more fuel with higher speeds and more team trucks, but the TdF advertising caravan litters over a much bigger area.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I expect F1 burns more fuel with higher speeds and more team trucks, but the TdF advertising caravan litters over a much bigger area.

I don't think you could ever make a sensible comparison. My point was just that the TdF can't be seen as an eco-friendly event in any way at all. It's not like it can offset its emissions against the fact that it promotes active transport, cos it doesn't. It's just a bunch of weird specimens of humanity zooming around impossibly fast, and being extremely entertaining.

If you did want to attempt a comparison ... You'd need to take into account emissions from people driving to the event too, and as F1 has far fewer actual spectators, cos it's in a closed stadium/track thing, TdF would score heavily on that. And all those helicopters (there are loads of them) could probably give an F1 car a run for its money in fuel burning. TBH I know absolutely zip about F1 though. TdF is once a year though, and there are loads of GPs. Maybe include all the GTs - or all top road races ... Gets messy.

 

[mjr]

If you did want to attempt a comparison ... You'd need to take into account emissions from people driving to the event too, and as F1 has far fewer actual spectators, cos it's in a closed stadium/track thing, TdF would score heavily on that. And all those helicopters (there are loads of them) could probably give an F1 car a run for its money in fuel burning. TBH I know absolutely zip about F1 though. TdF is once a year though, and there are loads of GPs. Maybe include all the GTs - or all top road races ... Gets messy.

Yes, very messy. I doubt your analysis of fan travel. I suspect F1 fans are far more likely to have travelled much greater distances to the venue and mostly by air and car, whereas bike race spectators are much more likely than them to travel by bike and maybe train and most will travel short distances to the race. People like me who travel even 45miles to watch a WorldTour race stage finish are relatively rare: at the last one, the next furthest-travelled fans that we spoke to had travelled 30 miles. The streets around the finish were packed but the train home was far from full.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Yes, very messy. I doubt your analysis of fan travel. I suspect F1 fans are far more likely to have travelled much greater distances to the venue and mostly by air and car, whereas bike race spectators are much more likely than them to travel by bike and maybe train and most will travel short distances to the race. People like me who travel even 45miles to watch a WorldTour race stage finish are relatively rare: at the last one, the next furthest-travelled fans that we spoke to had travelled 30 miles. The streets around the finish were packed but the train home was far from full.

Doubt away - it wasn't really an analysis, it was a wild guess based on very little background knowledge so it's going to be way off.

But re the TdF, I was thinking of all those full car parks in small fields in towns along the TdF route. That's lots and lots of cars all along the route. But anyway. It's going to be significant whether or not it's more than F1.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Yes, very messy. I doubt your analysis of fan travel. I suspect F1 fans are far more likely to have travelled much greater distances to the venue and mostly by air and car, whereas bike race spectators are much more likely than them to travel by bike and maybe train and most will travel short distances to the race. People like me who travel even 45miles to watch a WorldTour race stage finish are relatively rare: at the last one, the next furthest-travelled fans that we spoke to had travelled 30 miles. The streets around the finish were packed but the train home was far from full.

Doubt away - it wasn't really an analysis, it was a wild guess based on very little background knowledge so it's going to be way off.

But re the TdF, I was thinking of all those full car parks in small fields in towns along the TdF route. That's lots and lots of cars all along the route. But anyway. It's going to be significant whether or not it's more than F1.

That would be an interesting study, just setting the parameters of what & what isn't included would be a huge task & probably eat up more world resources than the 2 put together.