A junior cycling race in Germany turned into chaos when an elderly woman on a mobility scooter rolled into the path of speeding riders, triggering a nasty pileup.
More than 100 young cyclists from across Europe were competing Sunday in the Saarland Trofeo Juniors when the shocking crash unfolded.
Video from the race shows the woman slowly moving her scooter out from the crowd of spectators and into the cyclists’ lane as riders came barreling down the road.
One cyclist managed to swerve around the front of the scooter, narrowly avoiding a direct hit.
But the rider behind him was not as lucky.
Dutch cyclist Paul Vriesman slammed into the scooter, barely missing the woman herself, before flipping over his handlebars and crashing hard onto the road.
At least four other riders were also taken down in the chain-reaction crash, leaving bikes and bodies scattered across the pavement.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:
Vriesman later addressed the frightening incident on social media, saying he had been involved in “a very nasty looking crash” but was fortunate to escape without major injuries.
He said he “got away with it relatively well,” but admitted he was “lost for words on how something like this can happen.”
The young cyclist said the crash was another painful setback after he had already been involved in a serious crash earlier in the season.
“So much hard work and yet another setback,” he wrote.
Despite the terrifying footage, all of the cyclists caught up in the crash reportedly avoided serious injury.
Cycling commentator Los Brolin, who shared the viral video, warned spectators to stay behind the designated race boundaries.
“Even a small step onto the road can have serious consequences at these speeds,” he wrote on social media. “This was not even the first incident of this kind during the race. Junior racing is already dangerous enough without spectators making it even more dangerous.”
Sindre Orholm-Lønseth of Norway went on to win the race. Splinter van’t Hoff of the Netherlands finished second, while Elias Wändel of Germany took third.
The incident immediately drew comparisons to a notorious crash during the 2021 Tour de France, when a woman holding a sign accidentally caused a massive pileup.
In that case, German cyclist Tony Martin clipped the woman’s poster, which read “Go! Gran, Grandad” in French and German, setting off a domino effect that sent riders crashing across the road.
The woman fled the scene but later turned herself in to police. Tour de France organizers ultimately agreed not to press charges.
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perhaps these “cyclists” now know what its like when they ride through pedestrians and red traffic lights