There were scary scenes at the Vuelta Extremadura cycling event as a spectator caused a rider to suffer a horror crash.
The multi-stage event, which is hosted in Spain every year, saw a cyclist knocked off his bike by a fan attempting to film the action on her phone. The spectator was stood to the side of the road, but had her arm out holding her phone as she recorded the race.
And the rider was struck by the woman's arm, sending them both tumbling to the floor. Luckily nobody was seriously injured in the fall.
"We want to make a call to the responsibility of the public so that accidents like the one experienced at the end of today's stage are not repeated," organisers said in an official statement on the incident.
"It is important to keep your distance and not invade the road at the pace of the race." Cyclist Owen Lightfoot, who was also competing in the race, addressed the incident on Instagram, calling it "very upsetting".
After sharing a clip of the incident, Lightfoot wrote: "Went for the bunch sprint today, was in near perfect position when the rider ahead of me was taken out by a spectator filming with a phone.
"Having spectators is great and makes the racing much more enjoyable, the sport wouldn’t be what it is without them. But I don’t know why people feel the need to film and put there phone out in front of riders going at 60km/h when the race is already been filmed and televised already, endangering riders and themselves.
"We put in a lot of hours and sacrifice a lot for an opportunity to get results, just to be taken out this way is very upsetting. I am very lucky to only have some road rash as it could of been much worse.
"Looking forward to racing the final couple of stages of what otherwise has been a beautiful race. Live in the moment"
