Close call as motorbike nearly crashes into Sunweb rider in De Brabantse Pijl women's race

Shocking images from De Brabantse Pijl women's show a motorbike narrowly missing crashing into Team Sunweb rider Liane Lippert.

Lippert was attacking the peloton uphill, with 117km of racing to go, when a moto swerved across the road towards her.

The 21-year-old screamed out, and quickly took evasive action to avoid the motorbike colliding into her, with the driver only looking round and noticing the near-miss after Lippert took herself up on to the kerb and out of harm's way.

The video footage captures Lippert screaming in fear and trying to alert the motorbike to her presence. She then curses the driver for nearly causing the crash.

Sofie De Vuyst (Parkhotel Valkenburg) was the eventual winner, sprinting clear of a select group to claim victory. Meanwhile, Mathieu van der Poel won the men's race, also in a sprint finish.

Liane Lippert has raced for Team Sunweb since turning pro in 2017.  The German's palmarès include a national road race title in 2018 as well as becoming the European junior road champion in 2016. She also finished fourth overall in last year's Women's Tour de Yorkshire.

Back in February 2017, an in-race motorbike from the Tour of Oman was the first to be punished under the then new UCI convoy rules for "non-regulation positioning". The rules were introduced after a number of incidents forced calls for greater protection of riders.

The third stage of the Tour of Belgium 2016 was halted after Stig Broecx was hit by a motorbike during the race and suffered a severe brain injury and bleeding on the brain, which put him in a coma. The Belgian continues to make a remarkable recovery from injuries that doctors feared would see him remain in a vegetative state.

Geraint Thomas was taking down by a parked motorbike in stage nine of the 2017 Giro d'Italia, an incident Thomas afterwards said "shouldn't have happened".