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Terrifying video: a bunch of deer ran in front of the pack at the Junior Peace Race

The herd came out at the exact wrong moment

Photo by: Vegar Kulset @VegarKulset
May 5, 2022
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Overzealous fans. Police officers. Pedestrians who aren’t paying attention. Bike racers have a lot to deal with to avoid crashing. That is of course over and above the usual dangers of riding in a pack at full tilt. Whether it’s someone touching a wheel, slamming on the brakes or having a mechanical, racing can be a risky business.

Unless you just returned from a trip to the International Space Station, you probably remembered last year’s Tour de France. A woman held a sign (which read “Allez Opi-Omi”) in front of the peloton facing the cameras in front of her and didn’t realize Tony Martin was a about to hit the sign. Almost the entire peloton went down in the chaotic pileup at the top of Saint-Rivoal with 45km to go. As bikes and bodies flew across the road, many cyclists and spectators were injured and Team DSM rider Jasha Sutterlin had to pull out of the Tour after just one stage of the Tour.

At Paris Roubaix this year, there was another incident that may or may not have been the result of a spectator. Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s Yves Lampaert crashed hard on one of the last sections of cobbles. The Belgian rider was in a two-man chase group trying to catch ultimate winner Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) and riding on the far right od the road, close to spectators to avoid the rough stuff, when he soddenly lost control and crashed.

Immediately after the crash, commentators were blaming the spectator, saying they were standing too close to the action. Many said that Lampaert nicked a spectator, which caused him to zig zag to the other side of the road and get flung off his bike.

On Thursday’s opening of the Course de la Paix Juniors from Litoměřice to Litoměřice, in Czech Republic, some deer jumped out to cross the road, narrowly avoiding the oncoming pack. Perhaps they didn’t read the signage warning them of the bike race and rolling enclosure. Thankfully neither the cyclists, nor the deer, got hurt, but whoa boy, was it close.

Thankfully the cyclists didn’t have headlights because then, well you know how the rest of the expression goes.