Team Car Hits Cyclist in French Junior National Championships

A promising breakaway in the French Junior National Championships turned terrifying on Sunday when a team car hit one of the two lead riders, subsequently taking down the other rider.

With 31 kilometers to go in the 81km race, Amandine Muller (Grand Est) and Célia Gery (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) held a lead of over 3 minutes. Gery was talking with her team car as Muller rode slightly ahead of her opponent and the car.

Then the team car veered slightly, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes team director behind the wheel watching his rider rather than the road ahead, taking out the rear wheel of Muller and sending her to the ground to the left, luckily out of the path of the vehicle. Gery, with nowhere else to go, crashed over Muller.

Both riders were able to remount and continue the race. Gery went on to win, with Muller rolling in for second place 3:42 behind.

“We are so greatful [sic] Amandine fell on the left side and not the right, as the car couldn’t stop fast enough and it could have been fatal for her,” wrote CPA president Adam Hansen on X. “We will watch this final outcome of the DS very closely. I hope whatever the outcome is, he realises a car can be a weapon in the wrong hands.”

This isn’t the first time a race caravan vehicle has hit a rider in pro cycling. During stage 4 of the 2022 Tour de France Femmes, Mavi García was hit by her own team car causing her to crash in a similar manner to Sunday’s incident.

During stage 9 of the 2011 Tour de France, a television vehicle hit Johnny Hoogerland and Juan Antonio Flecha , ending their breakaway chances. The vehicle was kicked out of the race by organizers.