Carnage as Tour de France riders taken out by TV car

There was yet more carnage on stage eight of the Tour de France on Sunday as an official TV car crashed into two riders during a breakaway, sending one flying into a barbed wire fence.

And two days after British rider Bradley Wiggins was forced to retire from the race with a broken collarbone two other big names with top 10 aspirations, Alexandre Vinokourov and Jurgen Van Den Broeck, crashed out.

Vinokourov broke his right femur after being thrown over a barrier and into a tree in a terrifying crash as the peloton headeded downhill on slippery roads in the Massif Central at speeds of 40mph.

That crash also did for Belgian Van Den Broek, but it was the incident involving the TV car that grabbed the headlines.

Last week a photographer's motorbike took out Danish rider Nicki Sorensen but the incident with the TV car was even more serious.

The vehicle was trying to overtake a breakway group of five riders at the front of the race, even though it had reportedly been told not to. But as it passed them the driver suiddenly veered to the right sending Team Sky rider Juan Antonio Flecha to the ground.

Dutchman Johnny Hoogerland then crashed into Flecha and was sent somersaulting through the air and into a barbed wire fence.

Both riders eventually remounted their bikes but limped home well behind the peloton. Hoogerland, who still has the polka dot 'King of the Mountains' jersey, suffered deep cuts to his legs and was taken from the podium to hospital where he said he expected to be given around 30 stitches.

Flecha, a team mate of Wiggins, also suffered cuts in the crash and afterwards Dave Brailsford of Team Sky was furious. They later released a statement which said: "All teams recognise that crashes will happen. However, today’s incident that saw Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland knocked from their bike should not have happened. We are speaking with the race organisers and are confident they will take the appropriate action."

Others were more open in their opinions. Stage winner Luis-Leon Sanchez said: "This is totally unacceptable. The organisers must speak to the riders immediately. They must start respecting the riders. There has to be more control of the cars. Never again please."

While Saxobank rider Stuart O'Grady attacked the organisers for sending the race along narrow roads. He said: "Crashes are always going be part of the game. It just seems that this year we are going down goat tracks.

"It's one thing to say it's all for the spectacle, but we don't want to see more people lose their life." ·