There was a shocking incident on today’s twelfth stage of the Vuelta a Espana from Motril to Antequera Los Dólmenes as Katusha Alpecin’s Maxim Belkov was deliberately pushed off his bike by a spectator.
The incident happened on the final climb of Puerto del Torcal one to two kilometres before the summit. In video footage posted on Twitter afterwards, a spectator can be seen running towards Belkov and pushing him towards the fencing.
Belkov falls over the fencing as a member of La Guardia Civil restrains the spectator. Other spectators can be seen coming to Belkov’s before he sets off on the bike again.
After the stage, Belkov tweeted: “Today at the 12th stage in the last mountain 1-2km before the GPM I was pushed and kicked out of the bike by one of the “fans” in a red T-shirt. I flew over the fence and fell into the sink pit. It’s outrageous and not athletic in relation to the riders! Maybe someone has a video of what happened.”
Reaction of @belkovmaxim to aggression in today's stage #LV2017. Respect for not having reacted in-race, Max. Crazy world today. @lavuelta pic.twitter.com/X6aYdxgz6D
— Team KATUSHA ALPECIN (@katushacycling) August 31, 2017
After the footage was posted online, Belkov responded on Twitter saying: “Thanks for video! I hope there will be less such incidents! It’s immoral. Thank you all,…”
Hope the police kicked 10 colours of shit out of him
He has Downs Syndrome
Seriously ? Kick the shit out of him…, you sad sad man.
Cheers
Andy Davidson why should they “kick the shit of them” regardless?
They need to make example of this person. As they would any sports person being attacked whilst participating in their Sport.
They’re setting buses on fire and pushing people off of bikes, what is happening at the Vuelta?
I Fucking hate cyclists
The guy has Down syndrome. He’s disabled. It was not malicious.
You’re still full of shit.
Don’t be a prick Russell
Russell MacDonald excuse me? You know nothing. Now crawl back into your box you ignorant fool.
Russell MacDonald what the actual fuck.
Gary Sinclair Mad
It’s Luke.
It was wrong, disibility or not, it should not have happened, should be investigated, the person was clearly capable of causing injury or worse therefore they should not have been afforded that position.
Not really that much worse than all the assholes that run next to the riders. Especially the ones who dress up for attention… they need to be restrained or some type of intervention.
Attacking a rider and running next to a rider are quite different. I do agree that some people need to show more respect to the cyclists particularly on steep climbs where the reduced speed of the cyclists allows for these numbskulls to hinder riders.