Disrespectful fans reached a new low on Saturday. Two drunken fans tried to steal a bike off the roof of a Visma-Lease A Bike, according to the team.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred during the fourth stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.<\/p>\n
One fan physically climbed onto the team car to try steal the bike. The other \u201cbehaved very aggressively towards the occupants of the car\u201d according to a statement from the team<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the theft wasn\u2019t successful, the incident is clearly very serious. The team says both the police and race organisers are now involved.<\/p>\n UPDATE:\u00a0The Scannellatori Seriali Instagram account shared video of the incident and it is way crazier and way more aggressive than Visma\u2019s reasonably-toned announcement made it sound. You can see the video below.<\/p>\n A new low in a long history of being dumb<\/p>\n We\u2019ve seen all manner of rude, dangerous and disrespectful behaviour from cycling \u201cfans\u201d over the years. Enough that the Belgian federation specifically asked supporters not to be stupid this year<\/a>. Apparently, these two fans took that to mean they could do whatever they want on Italian roads.<\/p>\n Trying to take a team bike mid-race is, to my memory, a first.\u00a0Obviously the team\u2019s name is not actually an invitation to \u2018borrow\u2019 one of its rider\u2019s bikes. Never, but especially not during the middle of a race.<\/p>\n The Visma staff in the car were, as you\u2019d expect, shaken by the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take this incident very seriously, as it put the safety of our colleagues at risk,\u201d says Visma-Lease A Bike\u2019s Richard Plugge. \u201cOur staff on site immediately went to the police and also reported the incident to the race organization. In the end, no equipment was stolen and no damage was caused. The colleagues in the car are okay, but understandably shaken.\u201d<\/p>\n