Rider hospitalised after Tour of Britain peloton crashes into parked cars

BMC Racing rider Brent Bookwalter was taken to hospital to be checked over after crashing in today's Stage 4 of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain when the peloton rounded a left-hand corner in Retford, Nottinghamshire and a number of riders crashed into cars parked on the right-hand side of the road.

Footage of the incident, which happened with around 45 kilometres remaining of the stage from Mansfield to Newark-on-Trent, was posted to Twitter by user Brain on Wheels.

#OVOToB Crash in @TourofBritain, lots of riders crashed with a car... Why were the cars there??? pic.twitter.com/kdNTiWoNKY

— Brain on Wheels (@BrainOnWheels) September 6, 2017

In this video of the aftermath, Bookwalter is being treated on the floor on the left hand side of the screen, with the force of the impact of one of the other riders involved shown by the shattered rear window of the car.

#OVOToB @BMCProTeam & @OricaScott riders after the crash. pic.twitter.com/DNxL5I2wIl

— Brain on Wheels (@BrainOnWheels) September 6, 2017

Following the stage, won by Fernando Gaviria of Quick Step Floors and with Team Sky's Elia Viviani taking the overall lead, BMC Racing said that Bookwalter seemed okay but had been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.

Sports director, Valerio Piva, commented: “It was a stressful day because there was a lot of wind and 15 kilometrs after the point where [an earlier]crash happened, there was an important point, and we were ready and up at the front of the bunch waiting for that.

"But then, unfortunately, we came out of the corner, and there was a car parked in the wrong position, and some guys crashed. We had four guys involved: Brent Bookwalter, Silvan Dillier, Ben Hermans and Joey Rosskopf.

"Brent came out of it worst and was taken to the hospital, but for now, it looks okay. The rest of the guys were able to get back on the bike and did a good job to bring Silvan back to the bunch in particular.”

He added: “We will now look ahead to the time trial, and everyone is motivated. We have a good group of riders able to do a good job tomorrow. Overall, this parcours is not really on our side but we were ready to do something today, and it is just a shame about the crash.”