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Tour de France spectator killed | Tour de France spectator killed |
(30 minutes later) | |
A woman has been killed and two other people injured when they were hit by a police motorcycle while watching the Tour de France cycle race, police said. | A woman has been killed and two other people injured when they were hit by a police motorcycle while watching the Tour de France cycle race, police said. |
The woman, who was in her 60s, was hit as she crossed the road along the route of the 14th stage of the race, near Colmar in north-eastern France. | |
Police said the driver fell off the bike, which ran into the crowd. | Police said the driver fell off the bike, which ran into the crowd. |
It was the first fatality since two children were killed in 2000 and 2002 hit by cars from the publicity caravan. | |
The biggest accident in the Tour's 106-year history took place in 1964, when a police supply van struck a bridge in the Dordogne region, killing 20 people. | |
Crash | |
Saturday's accident happened in the town of Wittelsheim, near the 38.5-km (24-mile) mark, on the route of the three-week cycle race that covers 199km (124 miles) from Colmar to Besancon. | Saturday's accident happened in the town of Wittelsheim, near the 38.5-km (24-mile) mark, on the route of the three-week cycle race that covers 199km (124 miles) from Colmar to Besancon. |
"A woman crossed the road and was hit by a Republican Guardsman on a motorcycle," Alain Fontaine, a spokesman for the gendarmerie, told Reuters news agency. | "A woman crossed the road and was hit by a Republican Guardsman on a motorcycle," Alain Fontaine, a spokesman for the gendarmerie, told Reuters news agency. |
"Then the motorcycle slid and hit one or two more people," he added. | "Then the motorcycle slid and hit one or two more people," he added. |
The two injured spectators were a 37-year-old woman and a man in his 60s, AFP news agency reported. | |
Both are expected to survive, police said. | |
Riders from the guardsmen - the ceremonial unit of the French police - accompany the riders along the route of the race. |