Tour de france riders urge spectators to

TOUR de France riders, teams and officials have pleaded with spectators to stay off the road as the race heads to Mont Ventoux.

Alberto Contador

TOUR de France riders, teams and officials have pleaded with spectators to stay off the road as the race heads to Mont Ventoux.

Desperate to avoid accidents, Tour organisers issued a security message warning onlookers to keep out of the way of riders with record crowds expected along the mystical "Beast of Provence."

Outraged after star sprinter Mark Cavendish was drenched in urine on stage 10 to Saint-Malo, race officials say security and police presence will be upgraded.

But, aware large parts of the race route cannot be controlled, Tour officials have asked riders to spread the safety message.

Cadel Evans tweeted: "Having spent a few years riding up the side dodging people, picnic chairs, prams and (frighteningly) small children here at the Tour", before referring to David Millar's tweets.

The Tour veteran tweeted: "The race director of the TdF asked me to use my 'tweeter' to offer safety guidance for the brilliant public on the road. I have 4 tips.

"1. Do not stand on the road, it may seem unimaginable in the hours of waiting preceding the race, but when we do arrive we use ALL of it!

"2. Remove children/pets/chairs from road when stepping back to avoid us, they more often than not end up being forgotten in the panic.

"3. Bike riders appear further away through a camera lense/phone/ipad than they actually are, take a long shot, not a close-up!

"4. Have a great time but remember to respect the race and the riders. Don't run alongside. Keep it safe."

Massive crowds are expected to also line the route throughout the French Alps, where the road is unfenced until the final 3km.

Although gendarmes are stationed along the route, the onus is on spectators not to compromise rider safety.

While most onlookers - many of them outlandishly clad - generally comply, there is a rogue element who do not.

Loose dogs, prams and children have traditionally caused the most mayhem in the peloton - and it has been no different this year.

But it appears some spectators take the race more seriously than others.

A bike chaser was punched and felled by another after spectator after interfering with riders on stage 7 from Montpellier to Albi.

But the spectator who hurled urine over Cavendish, supposedly in retaliation for Dutchman Tom Veelers crashing in Brittany, has not been tracked down.

Three people have been killed while spectating at the Tour since 2000.

A 12-year-old boy was hit by the publicity caravan 13 years ago.

In 2002, a seven-year-old boy died after being struck by a Tour vehicle and in 2009 a 60-year-old woman died after being struck by a police motorcycle.

More recently, riders have crashed after being hit by cameras, gigantic hands and, infamously, souvenir musettes (feed bags).