French Police Have Arrested The Woman Who, For Reasons Unclear, Ruined The Tour De France

Tour de France

French police have finally managed to arrest the woman who was responsible for causing a huge pile-up at the Tour de France over the weekend.

According to Reuters, the 30-year-old woman presented herself on Wednesday at a police station in Landerneau, Brittany, where that particular leg of the race was held. It also turns out that she’s French, despite previous reports referring to her as being German because of the words on her sign.

“She presented herself at midday at the Landerneau gendarmerie, announcing that she no longer supported the media pressure,” Colonel Nicolas Duvinage told local radio station France Bleu.

“The investigators of the Landerneau research brigade had formally identified her this morning and were preparing to question her at midday.”

She now faces up to a year in prison and a fine of up to €15,000 (roughly AU $24,000).

Gilbert Versier, an orthopedic surgeon who helped riders after the crash and who previously served as a military doctor in both Iraq and Afghanistan, literally compared the carnage to that of the battlefield.

“It looks like a war zone, the same chaos, the same moans, bodies everywhere and tangled machines,” he told French sport newspaper L’Équipe.

“You can’t imagine so much damage. In the midst of the commotion, the riders getting up and wanting to start again, the most serious cases must be identified.”

Police had on Sunday opened their investigation into “involuntary injuries with disability not exceeding three months by a deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence”, while the Tour de France organisers also intended to sue her over the incident.

This whole incident apparently caused quite the hubbub in Landerneau, with dozens of people coming forward with information.

The woman is now in custody and it remains to be seen what will happen to her, if anything.

As for the riders, the whole peloton paused for a minute of silence of Tuesday to raise awareness for safer racing conditions at the Tour de France. Afterwards, they rode the next 10km very slowly without competing against one another.

Suffice to say, there weren’t any crashes during that time.

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