logo
Ineos apologise after hitting spectator with support car during Tour de France

Ineos apologise after hitting spectator with support car during Tour de France

Independent2 days ago
Ineos Grenadiers have apologised after the team's support car knocked down a spectator during stage 14 of the Tour de France.
The car was in pursuit of its Dutch rider and eventual stage winner Thymen Arensman on the Col de Peyresourde, one of four major climbs during Saturday's stage 14 in the Pyrenees.
The car appeared to be passing a motorbike as it took a wide line on the road before hitting a fan who had been filming the riders as they passed, knocking them to the floor.
The race jury later said Ineos Grenadiers sports director Oliver Cookson was fined 5,000 Swiss francs (£4,300) for "improper behaviour endangering spectators" and handed a yellow card. Accumulating yellow cards over a defined period of time results in a suspension.
Local police are investigating the incident.
Ineos Grenadiers said: 'Our thoughts and sincere apologies go out to the fan who was accidentally and regretfully hit by one of our race cars while supporting the riders during today's stage.
'Like all teams we take great care to maintain a safe race environment for everyone - including the passionate fans who make our sport so special.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Revealed: The bizarre reason Tour de France star STOLE a fan's cardboard sign, ripped it up and shoved it under his jersey
Revealed: The bizarre reason Tour de France star STOLE a fan's cardboard sign, ripped it up and shoved it under his jersey

Daily Mail​

time10 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Revealed: The bizarre reason Tour de France star STOLE a fan's cardboard sign, ripped it up and shoved it under his jersey

Tour de France rider Julian Alaphilippe has apologised to a stunned fan for snatching her cardboard sign and ripping it up during Stage 14 of the 2025 event on Sunday. As temperatures plummeted while the field cycled through the Pyrenees mountains, the 33-year-old cyclist turned heads by grabbing a cardboard placard from a fan supporting his rival. The Frenchman then rode away, ripping the sign into pieces and discarding the bits he didn't need. Alaphilippe could then be seen stuffing a piece of carboard inside his cycling suit to use as insulation in the brutal conditions. Alaphilippe's former teammate Zdenek Stybar said, 'Julian is really suffering from the cold.' After about 30km more riding, Alaphilippe stopped a camera motorbike and seemed to apologise for the incident before giving back the remains of the sign. 🇫🇷 #TDF2025 Yesterday, just before the summit of the Tourmalet, Julian Alaphilippe grabbed a cardboard sign from a fan. He tucked it under his jersey to keep warm on the descent. Later, he apologized to the woman. The sign read: 'Wout doesn't know it yet, but we're getting… — Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) July 20, 2025 Julian Alaphilippe (pictured leading the pack) snatched a cardboard sign from a fan during Stage 14 of the 2025 Tour de France on Sunday The two-time world champ later apologised properly to the fan and even gave her a gift. 'In the end the story ended well, I apologised to the woman whom I took it from,' he said. 'I gave her a bib, and she took a picture with Wout [rider Wout van Aert]. In the end, thanks to this, she had a better time compared to what she would have experienced at the top of the Tourmalet.' Despite the lighthearted moment, Alaphilippe finished in 50th place, with Thymen Arensman claiming the stage win. It wasn't the only unusual incident with a fan of Stage 14, with viewers left stunned when a car knocked down a spectator on a mountain road. The fan had been stood in the road filming cyclists as they went by when the Ineos Grenadiers vehicle hit them, sending them sprawling and their phone flying. It is unknown what condition the fan is in but the car was travelling at a low speed behind the bikers as they climbed the Col de Peyresourde. Organisers told Reuters they were not aware of the accident while Ineos Grenadiers were not immediately available for comment. The Ineos Grenadiers team is owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United's minority owner, and was around 200 metres from the summit of the climb at the time of the accident. It was following Ineos' Thymen Arensman, with team-mate Carlos Rodriguez leading the chasing group behind him. Jerome Coppel, an analyst for RMC Sport, said: 'It's always very complicated on these passes. There are people on both sides of the road which isn't very wide. 'The team directors have to get back up and ensure safety in case the leading rider gets a puncture. 'They try to get back up and the counter group won't let them pass. There isn't enough space and sometimes, unfortunately, we see this kind of thing. 'The driver risks being penalised. Having been in the car behind the peloton, it's really complicated when you have to move up the line.'

Boccia European gold win 'huge' for Kidson
Boccia European gold win 'huge' for Kidson

BBC News

time10 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Boccia European gold win 'huge' for Kidson

New European boccia champion Sally Kidson says she will take "huge" momentum from winning her first major championship into the rest of this 20-year-old beat defending champion, Sonia Heckel of France, 3-2 in the individual BC3 final in Zagreb, Croatia, earlier this month to win the gold medal."I'm very happy," Kidson told BBC Radio Wiltshire."It never hurts to win a big tournament like this and especially a major, but it's not all about that, it's about the momentum going into the rest of the year and ahead of the World Championships next year this sort of thing is huge." Kidson, from Salisbury, made her Paralympic debut last summer for Great Britain in Paris where she was the youngest person on the team. She was introduced to the sport in primary school and made her international competition in 2022, aged 17."The last Europeans [championships] I did in 2023, I literally came dead last and so to go from dead last to first place is absolutely mental," Kidson said. Honouring former Paralympians Kidson said the gold medal win was even more poignant following the deaths of her pairs partner Will Arnott and Great Britain team-mate Matt Berry at the end of and Arnott's gold medal in the Paralympic Games qualifying event secured Great Britain a place in the BC3 category at last summer's event."It's nothing short of a tragedy to lose both Will and Matt at the tail end of last year," Kidson worked with Arnott's long-time assistant Connor Welfare in Zagreb which she said made the event more special."This one especially, we know it was a big one because me and Connor Welfare, who was [Arnott's] assistant for 11 years, we thought it would be good to do this together and do it for the big guy," Kidson said."To be able to get a gold medal and also Zagreb is where Will had his first international competition and his first gold medal [in 2019]."It was really special to be able to do it."

Newcastle are having a nightmare in the transfer window
Newcastle are having a nightmare in the transfer window

Telegraph

time10 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Newcastle are having a nightmare in the transfer window

There is no point trying to pretend otherwise; there is no amount of spin that can turn this into a positive for Newcastle United. They have had a bad summer and nobody at the club will try and argue differently. They have tried and failed to sign at least five of their priority targets. They have been snubbed. It is the painful sting of rejection. A realignment in recruitment is needed. Newcastle wanted to sign Bryan Mbeumo (going to Manchester United), Liam Delap (joined Chelsea), João Pedro (signed for Chelsea) and Hugo Ekitike (on the verge of joining Liverpool). They also held a brief interest in Matheus Cunha (gone to Manchester United) and Dean Huijsen (signed for Real Madrid) before swiftly moving on. They are also now in danger of losing out to Manchester City in their attempt to buy goalkeeper James Trafford from Burnley. The player had wanted to join Newcastle for more than a year. Newcastle had a deal worth £20m in place to sign the England Under-21 international, only for the plug to be pulled shortly after Paul Mitchell was appointed as sporting director 12 months ago. The club had been willing to improve that offer to £25m in this window, but Burnley have been holding out for £40m following their return to the Premier League. Negotiations reached a stalemate and now Man City – who negotiated a 20 per cent sell-on clause when they sold him to Burnley in 2023 – have made their interest in the 22-year-old known. It looks like Newcastle are going to miss out on another key target. The reality is this: Newcastle are shopping in the top-tier player market because they want to build a top-level team. That is fine in theory, but in practice, they fail whenever there is competition. The pool of elite players is a small one. Everyone is looking for the same things but other clubs can offer more money, their name carries more prestige, they have a legacy aura. They also have the lure of London and Manchester. When rich clubs have overthrown the old order in the past – like Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and even Chelsea – they shook things up and turned heads with pound sterling. Newcastle have the richest owners in the world in the form of Saudi Arabia's PIF, but the financial rules were changed precisely to prevent Newcastle doing the same. These are long-standing issues. We have gone over this ground before, but this summer has highlighted the problems it presents once more. When Newcastle were looking to close the gap on the 'Big Six', they signed up-and-coming players who could grow with them. They identified players with potential, such as Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães, before the bigger clubs were willing to take a chance on them. Their needs are different now. They have closed the gap, but staying there is a different sort of challenge. They desired 'plug-in-and-play' signings who could make an instant impact on the Champions League and the Premier League. That is the level they find themselves at because of results on the pitch but, given their many failures in this window, they may have to tilt back in the former direction. Unfortunately, Newcastle are the weakest members of that top-tier group from a financial and prestige standpoint. It has been reaffirmed by everything that has happened over the past few weeks. What we have seen, ever since manager Eddie Howe said they needed to be dynamic and move swiftly in the market back in May, is a collision between expectation and reality. A club with huge ambitions has been forced to confront the fact they are not operating at the same level as those they strive to compete with every season. Newcastle currently have the eighth-largest wage bill in English football and that will almost certainly not change this year. The bruising truth is it might never do so. They could edge ahead of Aston Villa, just as they edged ahead of them in the league table last season, but the gap between themselves and the Big Six remains a gulf because so too do the revenue streams. Newcastle may have enjoyed their most successful period for more than two decades, qualifying for the Champions League twice, as well as winning their first domestic trophy for 70 years, but they have exceeded expectations and defied predictions. They have, in short, massively over-achieved. Nobody thought they could qualify for the Champions League and win a trophy 12 months ago, when a second transfer window passed without a first-team signing being made, but somehow they managed it. It was a triumph against the odds, but you cannot keep pulling off miracles. Everyone at the club recognised that back in the spring when shortlists were drawn up. This summer was the chance to build a bigger squad, with more depth and upgrades in key positions. Having rid themselves of PSR constraints, this transfer window was supposed to be transformative. Instead, Newcastle have hit a ceiling they are struggling to break through. They have improved with the signing of Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest, which ended a three-year search for a right sided forward. But they have so much still to do. More players will arrive before deadline day, but internally there is a desire not to panic. As frustrating and as disappointing as recruitment has been up to this point, the worst thing they can do is sign someone for the sake of it, just to quieten the clamour for new faces that always comes at this time of year. In turn, Newcastle have refused to be bullied. With Liverpool, and others, circling Isak, the pressure on them has been building. Of course, the player has been unsettled. It would be impossible not to be. Isak had been promised a new contract by former co-owner Amanda Staveley in 2024. However, Mitchell, who left the club last month, decided not to open those talks as Isak had more than three years left on his current deal and the club's PSR position made it difficult. This led to acrimony and the player's agent felt insulted. Everything that has followed can be traced back to that moment. But Newcastle have been steadfast. They insist, from the very top, which means chairman Yasir Al-Rumayaan and co-owner Jamie Reuben, that Isak is not for sale at any price this summer. For the time being, they will let the noise and the distractions die down. They respect the fact the constant speculation about his future has been difficult for him as well as them. But when the dust settles, they will offer him a new deal that would make him the club's highest earner. A mess was created that still needs to be cleared up. It is a difficult task, especially when there is no sporting director and the chief executive, Darren Eales, is working his notice. Running a club without a proper executive team is not the way any football club should operate, let alone one that aspires to be 'number one' according to their chairman. However, for all the setbacks in terms of bringing players in this summer to improve the squad, the one thing Newcastle could not countenance is making themselves weaker. Ambitious clubs do not sell their best players to a direct rival, for well below their valuation, when they have three years left on their contract. And Newcastle do remain ambitious, even if they do not have everything in place to achieve their goals at the moment. Isak is far too good and far too integral to how they play to lose him. Struggling to sign players is one thing; selling the world-class ones you have would be even worse. In a tricky period, that at least has been recognised.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store