Witnesses looked on in horror as a top cyclist crashed through the back window of a car during the Tour of Britain race.
Riders were hurtling past the town’s square to a rapturous reception from hundreds of people but as they turned a sharp bend, Brent Bookwalter smashed into the back of a parked car.
The car was parked in a disabled bay in Retford, Nottinghamshire, at around 2pm this afternoon.
About ten riders were caught in the pile-up and Bookwalter, 33, from New Mexico, sustained a three inch deep gash to his right upper arm in the crash.
Shocked witnesses have said cars ‘should not have been parked there’ as they posed a serious danger to competitors
Brent Bookwalter, 33, from New Mexico, sustained a three inch deep gash to his right upper arm following the crash
Bookwalter crashed into a car parked close to a tight corner and was forced to withdraw from the race, in an incident where several other riders also crashed
The car was parked in a disabled bay just around the corner where the square turns into Grove Street, and Bookwalter could not avoid it.
Bookwalter was subsequently forced to withdraw from the race.
An ambulance, police and other race officials all rushed to the scene, with shocking videos showing the crash and aftermath.
Mike Barker, who was watching it all unfold, said: ‘About 50 bikes came round and then someone went through the window of the parked car.
‘There was a huddle of bikes piled up afterwards with three or four on the floor and they were trying to get them up and then the ambulance came.’
The car window was shattered with glass strewn across the road.
The top cyclist crashed through the back window of a car during the Tour of Britain race
Shocking images from bystanders at the scene show the mass of tangled bikes
They hurtled through the town square to the delight of locals, before crashing
The car window was shattered with glass strewn across the road as police investigated
A car was parked in a disabled bay just around the corner where the square turns into Grove Street, and a rider who was taking the bend wide could not avoid it
Graham Moor said: ‘I can’t believe someone was allowed to park there – it’s madness’
Another witness said: ‘About four or five of them came round the corner onto Grove Street and all piled into the back of a parked car – one went through the back windscreen of the car.
‘It was shocking to see – he’s lucky to be alive.’
Graham Moor, 53, from Retford, added: ‘I can’t believe someone was allowed to park there – it’s madness.
‘It’s in a disabled bay and there was a marshall in place but at the speed they were going they couldn’t have stopped it happening.
‘It’s such a shame that this will be what people remember about the race coming through Retford – the crowd was amazing and seeing something like this was pretty shocking.’
Onlookers said the rider was ‘lucky to be alive’ after the horror smash
About ten riders were subsequently caught up in the pile-up in Retford town centre
An eyewitness said: ‘He hit the car and bounced off it – those parked cars just should not have been there’
One stricken cyclist can be seen thrown from his bike as others fall around him
One onlooker said: ‘The crowd was amazing and seeing something like this was pretty shocking’
Another eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said: ‘He hit the car and bounced off it – those parked cars just should not have been there.
‘It’s just a shame because now that’s all they will be talking about on the news – welcome to Retford.
‘He would have trained so hard for it and now it’s ruined.’
An ambulance worker said the rider sustained a three inch deep gash to his right upper arm but the other riders caught up in the smash escaped relatively unscathed.
As Bookwalter was carried to the ambulance on a stretcher the crowds burst into a spontaneous round of applause.
A post on the Tour of Britain official blog said: ‘A number of BMC riders seem to have come off worst there including Brent Bookwalter.’