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Tour de France viewers were left shocked on Saturday when INEOS' team support car knocked down a spectator on a mountain road.

The fan had been standing in the road filming cyclists as they went by when the Ineos Grenadiers vehicle hit them, sending them sprawling and their phone flying.

It is unknown what condition the fan is in, but the car was traveling at a low speed behind the bikers as they climbed the Col de Peyresourde during stage 14.

Organisers told Reuters they were not aware of the accident, while Ineos Grenadiers were not immediately available for comment.

The Ineos Grenadiers team is owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United's minority owner, and was around 200 metres from the summit of the climb at the time of the accident.

It was following Ineos' Thymen Arensman, with team-mate Carlos Rodriguez leading the chasing group behind him.

Jerome Coppel, an analyst for RMC Sport, said: 'It's always very complicated on these passes. There are people on both sides of the road, which isn't very wide.
The team directors have to get back up and ensure safety in case the leading rider gets a puncture.

'They try to get back up, and the counter group won't let them pass. There isn't enough space, and sometimes, unfortunately, we see this kind of thing.
The driver risks being penalised. Having been in the car behind the peloton, it's complicated when you have to move up the line.'

In the end, Arensman gave his Ineos-Grenadiers team something to cheer about as he won the 14th stage after a superb solo ride in the 182.6-km (113-mile) mountain trek between Pau and Superbagneres.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey as he took second place by beating chief rival Jonas Vingegaard in a two-man sprint finish, one minute 12 seconds behind Arensman, the first rider from the British outfit to win on the Tour in two years.

This is a team with a grand history, at least in its former iteration.

Bradley Wiggins won the Tour in 2012 with the team, which was then known as Team Sky, before Chris Froome went on to win another four for the squad.

Ineos became the sole owner of Team Sky in 2019, and the outfit was rebranded.

The team is managed by Sir Dave Brailsford.

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Transcript
00:00Tour de France viewers were left shocked on Saturday when Ineos' team support car
00:11knocked down a spectator on a mountain road. The fan had been standing in the road filming
00:16cyclists as they went by when the Ineos Grenadiers vehicle hit them, sending them sprawling and
00:22their phone flying. It is unknown what condition the fan is in, but the car was traveling at a
00:28low speed behind the bikers as they climbed the Col de Parasord during stage 14. Organizers told
00:35Reuters they were not aware of the accident while Ineos Grenadiers were not immediately available
00:41for comment. The Ineos Grenadiers team is owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United's minority
00:48owner, and was around 200 meters from the summit of the climb at the time of the accident.
00:58the next day.

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