Greig Leach

Not the the French fans stay home, but the Basque fans seemed to be three deep along every kilometer particularly on every climb over the first to stages of the 2023 Tour. By the time Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) got to the penultimate climb of the day, the Cote de Gurutze, he had dropped his erstwhile break away companions. While he may have been alone off the front of the peloton (by almost two minutes) he was hardly alone out on the climb. Much has been made of the respect that the fans have been giving the riders, and I agree that none have truly endangered the peloton with foolish selfies and crazed running or flare burning, but I sure don't want that many people yelling in my face.