If anyone is planning to ride through Montpellier in the near future, I gather from several sources that it's better to take the long way round.
A couple of years ago while I was planning our Diagonale I read reports of cyclists being bombarded with bricks there, and the last issue of the Petit Diagonaliste carries an account of "the usual abuse and threats, with one character even grabbing his car and pursuing us for several kilometres". In 2012 we went round by the south through Lunel and Lattes: it was flat and hot and unpleasant, but better than half a brick in the face.