COLMAR, France -- A man plowed his car into a crowd at the
finish line after he had been stopped from meeting the Tour de
France stage winner on Bastille Day. Four people were injured, one
seriously, race officials said.
|  | | Laurent Jalabert celebrates Saturday's victory. |
The driver was denied entry at an area for accredited personnel
when he tried to greet French star Laurent Jalabert following his
victory, officials said.
He returned to his car, then drove at high speed and smashed
through several barriers into a group of people, said Patrice
Clerc, president of A.S.O, the company that owns the Tour.
"Some people could not avoid him," Clerc said.
An unidentified woman was hospitalized with two broken legs and
head trauma, organizers said. She was thrown in the air by the car
and landed on her head, momentarily losing consciousness.
Two police officers were injured, one with a broken leg, and a
Tour employee injured a knee.
The driver, who was not identified, was in police custody, Clerc
said.
The mayhem occurred at the end of the seventh stage between
Strasbourg and this picturesque town near the German border.
French fans were celebrating on their national holiday when a
man "not in control of his emotions" disrupted the finish, about
30 minutes after all the riders were done racing, Clerc said.
Jalabert completed the 101-mile leg in 4 hours, 6 minutes, 4
seconds. Two-time defending champion Lance Armstrong was 4:28
behind but remained 15th overall. He retained a 27-second advantage
over his main rival, Germany's Jan Ullrich.
Germany's Jens Voigt was second and France's Laurent Roux was
third. Voigt, who rides for Credit Agricole, took the leader's
yellow jersey from teammate Stuart O'Grady.
This was Jalabert's second stage victory of this year's Tour. He
also won a stage on Bastille Day in 1995.
The CSC-Tiscali rider broke three ribs in February when he fell
off a ladder while changing a light bulb at his home in Geneva. He
was unable to ride for two months.
Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team was reduced to eight men
when Christian Vande Velde quit the race after crashing and
breaking his left forearm in a slippery downhill stretch in the
Vosges mountains.
He was to leave the hospital Saturday and spend the night in his
team hotel in Kaysersberg, team spokeswoman Sophie Boulet said. She
described Armstrong as "very unhappy" about what happened.
Vande Velde, riding in his second Tour de France, was 58th in
the standings at the start of Saturday's stage. The American
crashed two days ago in the team time trial.
Twelve cyclists have abandoned the Tour in its first week,
leaving 177 riders in the race.
Forty-four riders underwent random blood tests Saturday to
detect possible drug use. The International Cycling Union said
there were no failures.
Sunday's stage is a 138-mile route from Colmar to Pontarlier
near the Swiss border. The 20-stage Tour ends July 29 in Paris.
Last year, a 12-year-old boy watching Tour de France cyclists
died after he was hit by a publicity caravan, prompting organizers
to strengthen road safety measures.
Tens of thousands of people line the route every day. Scores of
accredited vehicles drive on the route, where access is tightly
controlled. Metal barriers are set up at most intersections.
The chaos at the finish recalled a scene after the 1998 World
Cup final in Paris. An apparently panicked driver surged into a
group of jubilant soccer fans, killing one person and injuring
about 80.
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