/ 07.11.2011 12:00AM
French TV Car Booted From Tour de France for Clipping Rider
SAINT-FLOUR, FRANCE: A French TV car was booted from the Tour de
France after clipping a cyclist who hit another, sending him into a barbed-wire
fence.
‘‘Following the accident which occurred at the 167km mark... involving the
riders Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland, vehicle Euro Media numbered
800 has been excluded from the Tour de France,” race organizers said.
The incident occurred Sunday, during the ninth stage of the race. It was
captured on video. The car is attempting to pass the cyclists on a two-lane
highway, when it appears to swerve to avoid a downed tree branch on the
shoulder of the road. Flecha went over the handlebars into the pavement; Hoogerland
hits Flecha’s bike and gets thrown airborne into the fence beside the road. Both
men got up and completed the stage of the race.