Motor doping suspect runs down race organiser while escaping inspection

A rider suspected of motor doping ran  down a race organiser after making a hurried getaway from bike inspectors, reports Le Parisien in France.

The drama took place on Monday, on the morning of the fourth and final stage of the amateur Routes de l'Oise stage race, north of Paris.

Organisers targeted on particular amateur rider for a bike inspection after his riding and his bike had raised suspicions of motor doping.

"We had suspicions about potential cheating," explained race director Frédéric Lenormand. "On Saturday, in the stage between Beauvais and Maignelay-Montigny, he caught a breakaway in an abnormally fast period of time. On Sunday, several people mentioned an unusual noise when he was riding."

But when Lenormand attempted to check the rider's bike, he could scarcely have believed what would happen next.

The rider "fled" towards his van, Le Parisien reported, despite efforts by Lenormand to "hold him back".

"I wanted to hold him back but he ran away," Lenormand says – and after catching up with the rider: “He drove his car at me and I went about 100 metres on his bonnet.

"It could have been even more dramatic," adds Lenormand, who was fortunate enough not to be injured.

The rider in question was not the first to make a quick getaway when confronted over motor doping suspicions – it happened in Italy in 2019.

The rider's team was withdrawn from the race and did not start the day's stage, and the race organisation reported the incident to the police.

"I gave my statement to the gendarmes at the beginning of the afternoon, this Monday," said Frédéric Lenormand. It's very sad to come to this. It’s inconceivable to me," he added. "Why cheat? There is no money… all just to win a winner's goody bag."

Eyewitness Yannick Matura lamented the way the events threatened to tarnish the work of the race organisation.

"That’s all we’re going to talk about," he said. "It's always a shame to see the work of a small association called into question. They say that money ruins everything but this is just a story of personal glory." 

The race was eventually won by Clément Penven of Team Bailleul le Soc, after he placed third in the stage two time trial and then escaped with two other riders to finish second on the final, controversy-hit stage.