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.
