A Tour de France rider has been forced to abandon the race after suffering a broken neck following a collision with a fan. You can see footage of the incident captured by another spectator below:
The Italian rider for Team TotalEnergies remarkably managed to power through to the end of the stage but has since retired from the race due to the injuries suffered during his crash on the cobbles.
The 35-year-old was amongst the peloton cycling from Lille to Arenberg on Wednesday’s fifth stage of the world’s most famous road cycling race when he collided with someone standing roadside.
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Cycling fans are famous for their desire to get close to the action, but this spectator overstepped the mark whilst trying film the cyclists passing by at high speed on their mobile phone.
The spectator was thrown to the ground by the crash, whilst Oss was chucked off his bike and into another rider who was also taken out.
His team later revealed that Oss had suffered significant injuries from the incident.
Team TotalEnergies said: “Additional examinations revealed a fracture of a cervical vertebra requiring immobilisation for a few weeks,
“Daniel Oss is therefore forced to leave the Tour de France. The whole team wishes you a good recovery Daniel.”
The second rider involved in the crash, Austrian Alpecin-Fenix rider Michael Gogl, was also forced to abandon due to a broken collarbone and pelvis, such was the severity of the crash.
Even though he was significantly injured, Oss managed to finish the stage 13:07 behind eventual winner Simon Clarke, after stage six yesterday Slovenian UAE Team Emirates star Tadej Pogačar is wearing the yellow jersey as the leader in the general classification (GC) category.
Oss’ teammate Peter Sagan paid tribute to his stricken colleague and wished him well in his recovery, tweeting: “Get well soon my friend [Daniel Oss]! We will all miss you here at [the Tour de France].”
This is just the latest in a litany of incidents that have taken place due to spectators’ desire to get too close to the action on the roads.
In June, Tour race director Christian Prudhomme urged fans to be ‘careful’ to avoid crashes.
He said: "The public of the Tour de France is very enthusiastic,
"Of course [the race] is 3,500 kilometres long and what we really need is for the media to pass on the message and keep on reminding the public to be careful.
"We will have on the Tour de France 29,000 police and fireman.
"It is difficult to have one policeman behind each person so we also have security guards to give information to the public that they should not cross and hold their children’s hand and stay on one side of the road.
"The public can move their hands, but they have to stick to their place."
The opening stage of the 2021 race was marred by a huge pile-up started when a spectator stepped into the road holding a sign with her back to the race.
Topics: World News, Sport
Tom Wood