{"id":788495,"date":"2026-07-08T15:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/788495\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:38:10","slug":"iconic-roadside-fan-didi-the-devil-robbed-at-tour-de-france-start-in-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/788495\/","title":{"rendered":"Iconic roadside fan Didi the Devil robbed at Tour de France start in Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"

On \u00e9s el diable? Where’s the Devil? If sharp-eyed Tour de France<\/a> TV viewers were wondering why Didi ‘The Devil’, for over three decades one of the race’s most famous and longstanding fans, could not be seen on this year’s stage 1 in Barcelona, the answer was that he was standing guard over his campervan, which had been broken into and robbed.<\/p>\n

Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia<\/a> reported on Wednesday that Dieter ‘Didi’ Senft, the German inventor and designer who has become famous for his Tour roadside alter ego of ‘The Devil’, had been the victim of a robbery in the city, causing him to miss out on stage 1 completely.<\/p>\n

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Rather than watch the team time trial, Senft, 74, felt it best to keep watch over his damaged campervan \u2013 new and perhaps unsurprisingly, given the occupant, painted black \u2013 after the co-pilot’s side window was smashed, and then report the incident to police. (He later posted “A big thank you to [impromptu translators] Faline and Greg for interpreting at the police station.”)<\/p>\n

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In some reports, the Catalan thieves’ ill-gotten gains from El diable were marginal at best, comprising a mobile mini-fridge full of ham and cheese, a toothbrush and a comb and a loudspeaker.<\/p>\n

However, as Senft ruefully posted later on, “much more has already been stolen\u2014and it\u2019s only noon. It\u2019s a rough area here in Barcelona.”<\/p>\n

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Even though his famous toasting fork, used to wave at riders, was not amongst the objects stolen, Senft nonetheless had to miss the whole of stage 1. He later explained he had covered up the hole in the window with a “devilishly elegant red cloth.” <\/p>\n

With the incident firmly in his rear-view mirror, subsequent social media posts showed Senft had returned safe and sound to the Tour for stages 2 and 3 in the Pyrenees, even feeling relaxed enough to chill his feet by soaking them in a conveniently located mountain river.<\/p>\n

Curiously enough, the Pyrenees were where Senft first put in an appearance, on the stage won by former Colombian cycling great Oliverio Rinc\u00f3n <\/a>with a long breakaway to Andorra, back in 1993.<\/p>\n

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Then as now, Senft appeared on TV next to fans and yelling wildly at the riders as they passed by on another day of scorching heat \u2013 though arguably not as warm as his usual, non-summer, residence.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! <\/a>Find out more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On \u00e9s el diable? Where’s the Devil? If sharp-eyed Tour de France TV viewers were wondering why Didi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-788495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}