Woman fined €1,200 for causing Tour de France pile-up

A French woman has been fined €1,200 ($1,357; £1,028) for causing a huge crash at the Tour de France by waving a cardboard sign in the riders' path.

The peloton was 45km (28 miles) from the end of the first stage, when her sign clipped German rider Tony Martin.

He fell to the ground and caused dozens of other riders to follow suit, in one of the tournament's worst ever crashes.

The woman, 31, was also ordered to pay a symbolic one euro fine to France's professional cyclist association.

The identity of the woman, who was a spectator at the elite race, was withheld after she was targeted by a torrent of online abuse, the AFP news agency reported.