Tour de France Car Crash Video: Flecha, Hoogerland Hurt

France Television Car Crashes into Juan Antonio Flecha, Johnny Hoogerland

The ninth stage of the Tour de France presented a hazard best known to bike commuters: a car accident. A car operated by France Television crashed into the peloton, sending Spanish rider Juan Antonio Flecha and Dutch rider Johnny Hoogerland flying into a barbed-wire fence.

Johnny Hoogerland's clothes were ripped off by the barbed-wire fence. Flecha clipped Thomas Voeckler as he crashed, but Voeckler managed to stay wheels-down; he is now the Tour leader. Both Flecha and Hoogerland completed the stage, with Hoogerland claiming the polka-dot jersey.

Rather than drop back to make way for a team vehicle, the France Television driver decided to speed up and overtake the peloton, but was unable to correctly judge the clearance. Don't ever do this, either while covering a race or driving to work.

Well, not as affected as Juan-Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland were, obviously. France Television's statement continued, "We apologise to the riders and to the teams. It's a scandal. There have now been two incidents involving the media on the roads of the Tour de France, and it's two accidents too many."

The crew of the errant car has been kicked off the Tour; organizers are furious over what could easily have been a fatal accident. The death of Wouter Weyland is still looming over the other riders' heads.

Alexandr Vinokourov Injured

Earlier in the ninth stage, Kazakh rider Alexandr Vinokourov, whose career was marred by recent doping scandal, also crashed out of the race: Vinokourov hit a tree after getting involved with a pile-up mid-descent.