Just. Stand. Back.

After some horrific crashes in the Giro - and we're only in the first week! - mostly caused by spectators, I feel moved to write on the subject.

What are these idiots doing???!!! *tears hair*

The obvious questions include Do they not know how fast they go?  Have they never been to a cycle race? Have they never seen it on tv?

However, here's my experience from the Tour of Britain a couple of years ago: LLB and I chose a nice spot, in the middle of nowhere so we wouldn't be oppressed by the crowds, on a bend so they'd be going slightly slower, on a loop so we'd get two chances to see them, with a place to park safely, and with back roads to get to it, so we wouldn't get caught up in road blocks.

(At that point we didn't fully appreciate how incredibly efficient the rolling roadblocks are, and how within seconds of the broom wagon passing, the road was open again.)

While waiting, I was chatting to other people *waves to Denny and her Rabobank flag* and amongst them was a stout elderly couple, who did not fit the profile for road race watchers.

They were, it turned out, on their way to visit a local garden centre ("Aye, lass, we know how to live") and had wondered why so many people were standing around in the middle of nowhere. So they pulled over and walked up to join the growing crowd. They had no idea what it was, or when it would happen, but such is the life of retired folk with not much to do with their time - any free diversion is something to be savoured. When the moment came, they were clapping and hollering along with everyone else.

Moral of the story: yes, it is entirely possible for spectators to have no idea at all what they are about to see.

Those are what you might call the "ignorant" spectators, who don't know what to do, and what to not do. They would be the ones who drop their air sausages just as the peloton scream into sight.

The next type of spectator are the "wrong" sort: the ones who turn to wave to the camera bikes as they pass, ignoring the approaching race. These are the "me, me, me" types, whose elbows, cameras, and flappy jackets (yes, you, girl, you are far from forgiven) hook into unsuspecting riders and end their careers. They don't particularly care about cycling, they just want to be on tv for free, and yes, this set includes those dopey gits who run alongside, especially the ones who dress up or take off their clothes.

The "right" sort of spectators are, of course, the many wonderful folks who present the backs of their heads to the passing camera bikes, as they are concentrating on looking for the approaching riders. We like them.

So what can be done?

As Bernie Eisel said, cycling is the one sport where the crowds can get really, really close to the action, and that is what makes it unique, special, and spectacular. And it's free. That is a wonderful legacy, and long may it continue.

But we really need to do something to educate people about rider safely.

There is a strange little promotional video being shown during race footage at present, it's called something like "respect our sport" and it features a large number of international riders asking the viewer to "respect" them. It features footage of charming tiny children toddling around beside the road, and a dog walking on the pavement. It does also show the dreadful mountain-top road-blocking fans, but it shows them opening up before the riders in a way that, frankly, looks quite magical.

In my opinion, it completely fails to address the problem.

For a start, it does not clearly state what the problem is. Someone who is new to the sport will simply see that tiny children and dogs are clearly welcome at races, and that people stand on the road but that's fine, because the riders just keep on going and everyone gets out of the way, no problem. Oh, riders fall off from time to time but that seems to be part of the game. Footballers fall off and pull faces like that all the time, and these bicycle guys are obviously not as badly hurt as footballers, as they get up and get back on their bikes, so they're not really being hurt, right?

This video needs to clearly state "this is how to do it" and "this is what not to do".

It needs to show one of the many spectator-caused crashes with slo-mo freeze-frame of the moment of impact, then the rider covered with blood, and then the spectator being led away by Police.

The phrase "respect our sport" or whatever it is (I've seen it four or five times and it has made so little impact on me that I can't remember the punchline, therefore as a marketing exercise it has FAILED) is so ambiguous that it's ridiculous - it could well be interpreted as simple "Clap us, as we go past."

The final shot, if I remember it rightly, is Teejay "Bumfluff" Van Garderen pointing at the camera with a serious face, then laughing.  Laughing! Yeah, right, it's a really serious message *sarcastically* and you have just undermined it completely by laughing.

It needs to say, simply, "Stand Back."

That's all. 

A little bit of "keep small children and dogs on leads" would be good, and a dollop of "The Road Is Ours" or "We Need All The Road" in the middle would pad it out a bit, but the main message, in every language they have, should simply be "Stand Back."

It seems that Daniele Colli, the Nippo-Vini Fantini Rider whose elbow and arm bone were broken in the crash caused by a spectator leaning over the barrier with a camera, is going to sue that spectator: he is filing a criminal complaint, and his team are opening a civil action for compensation.

We all remember Stage 9 of the 2011 Tour, when Flecha ("Handsome Dude!") and Hoogerland were hit by the French TV car: in November 2014, three years later, Hoogerland finally received compensation from the car's insurance company, and Flecha won a criminal suit against the insurance company, receiving a small payout, and was going through the compensation case.

But that was a car, an insurance company: Nippo-Vini Fantini are going against an individual, and I have no idea if they will be able to get any sort of compensation.

However, whether or not the case is successful, I hope that it is widely publicised, in order to get the message across that if you cause an accident, you will not be allowed to melt into the crowd and "get away with it".

Please, people: Just Stand Back.