Lucinda Brand of the Netherlands collided with a spectator during the women’s Paris-Roubaix, which was won by Germany’s Franziska Koch.
Brand, 36, of Lidl-Trek, was chasing the leaders through one of the infamous cobbled sectors of the notoriously fraught one-day ‘monument’ race in northern France, when she chose to ride in a gulley on the edge of the track.
Her handlebar was struck by the hands of a fan who was standing by the side of the road cheering the riders on, forcing her to lose control of the bike and hit the cobbles hard on her right shoulder.
Brand rejoined and eventually finished the race in 10th place.
Her team said she was assessed by doctors after the race and appears not to have suffered any fractures, but does have “some pain in her neck”.
Fans have caused several crashes during races in recent years as a sport which takes place over hundreds of kilometres on public roads grows in popularity.
In 2021 during the Tour de France a fan holding a message up for TV cameras caused a huge pile-up and several abandonments from the race.
A similar incident occurred during the Tour in 2023 when a fan attempted to take a selfie as the peloton passed by.
Koch won the race, traditionally known as the ‘Hell of the North’ on account of its bone-shaking cobbled sectors, by half a wheel from the legendary Marianne Vos, whose Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot was six seconds behind in third.
All three riders raced into the Roubaix’s famous velodrome together in the warm evening sun, but after Ferrand-Prevot led them in for the lap and a half, she let the others go.
Koch, 25, surprised the crowd by over-powering the highly decorated Vos and achieved by the far the biggest win of her career to date for her much-improved FDJ United-Suez team – who also won last Sunday’s Tour of Flanders with Demi Vollering.
“I’m not a pure sprinter, but I still have a good launch in the last stages of a race,” said Koch. “To win the sprint, it’s unbelievable.
“It was always a dream of winning this race – we had such a good start this season and the team was believing in me and that I had great shape.”
The highest-placed British rider was Zoe Backstedt in 12th for Canyon-Sram Zondacrypto, with Pfeiffer Georgi 14th for Picnic PostNL.
