A cycle race ended in disaster when a police motorcyclist cut across the road as competitors sprinted to the finishing line – causing a massive crash.
Shocking footage shows how athletes were sent flying into the air during the pile-up that took place on stage three of the Vuelta a Venezuela race on Wednesday.
The annual competition’s gruelling third leg had seen cyclists travel a punishing 141km on their bikes.
But as they neared the finish line, disaster struck.
A police motorbike escorting the cyclists cut across the track, smashing into several bikers.
One bike is seen flying through the air as horrified spectators scream and dive for protection. The motorbike rider then appeared to crash into the roadside barriers.
Some managed to dodge the chaos and continue to the finish. But others, including spectators, weren’t so lucky and were left sprawled out on the ground.
Local media reported that five people sustained minor injuries.
Three of those were athletes, with the other two being the police officer riding the motorbike and a race judge who was accompanying him.
They were all taken to hospital for further tests but there has been no update since.
Race doctors were also quickly spotted at the scene.
Fans reacted in disbelief online, with one saying: ‘Human stupidity knows no bounds.’
Another declared: ‘What an idiot.’
One noted: ‘Where are the stewards?’
Another added: ‘It is the fault of the policeman.’
The crash cast a shadow over the mega race, which is comprised of four stages totalling 350.4km
The race began in 2004 and is a 2.2 level race, meaning it is contested by a mix of continental, domestic and amateur teams.
The third stage was won by Leangel Linarez, riding for the Portuguese Continental Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua team.
The crash isn’t the first dramatic crash to happen in a cycling race in recent years.
In 2021, a roadside spectator showing-off a banner to the TV cameras caused chaos on stage one of the Tour de France, stepping into the road and causing a shocking pile-up.
As the peloton wound its way through the narrow Brittany back roads, the Jumbo-Visma team were organised together on the right-hand-side of the road.
With all-but a couple of riders in the 184-strong field behind him, Tony Martin was protecting his team leader Primoz Roglic when a spectator stepped into the road, looking into the TV cameras ahead.
Martin had nowhere to go as he slammed into the fan’s arm and fell hard onto the asphalt, before the German’s team-mates and competitors piled in behind.
More than 20 riders hit the deck, with Team DSM’s Jasha Sutterlin forced to abandon the race due to his injuries.
The message on the reckless spectator’s banner read ‘allez opi omi’, which is a greeting to grandparents in French.
World champion Julian Alaphilippe, who went on to win the stage, was brought down in the crash, alongside Belgian superstar Wout van Aert and Peter Sagan.
The cycling community reacted furiously, with Michael Hutchinson writing on Twitter: ‘It’s a long time since I’ve seen anything so stupid as that spectator.’
@MagnusOpus33 added: ‘This idiotic spectator caused the whole peloton to crash in the Tour de France. Horrendous, catastrophic. Ban that person forever.’
