Good grief……
Tour de France shooting
Updated: 07:15, Saturday July 18, 2009
Two Tour de France riders have been slightly injured after being shot at with air guns during the world famous race.
Three-times world champion Oscar Freire of Spain and New Zealand’s Julian Dean were attacked along the road of the 13th stage from Vittel to Colmar in north-east France.
‘Julian was shot by an air rifle or BB gun (pellet gun) at the top of a climb during the stage,’ Marya Pongrace, a spokeswoman for Dean’s Garmin-Slipstream team said.
‘He has a minor injury on his finger but he was able to finish.’
She said he was ‘shaken up’ in the incident but was expected to start Saturday’s stage of the tour.
‘(Organisers) ASO have asked police to open an investigation,’ she added.
‘Oscar heard three shots and then felt a sting,’ a spokesman for Freire’s Rabobank team said.
‘A small shot was removed’.
ASO confirmed an investigation had been opened and said both riders had given statements to the police.
The organisers added they would not make any further comment on the matter at this moment.
