Car Crashes Into Crowd at Finish

A man plowed his car into a crowd at the finish line of Saturday’s stage of the Tour de France, injuring four, one seriously, race officials said. The driver was denied entry at an area for accredited personnel when he tried to greet French star Laurent Jalabert after his victory, officials said.

Then the man returned to his car, drove at high speed and smashed through several barriers into a group of people, said Patrice Clerc, president of the company that owns the Tour de France.

“Some people could not avoid him,” Clerc said.

An unidentified woman was hospitalized because of two broken legs and head trauma, organizers said. The collision threw her into the air and she landed on her head, momentarily losing consciousness.

Two police officers were injured, one with a broken leg, and a Tour employee suffered a knee injury.

The driver, who was not identified, was in police custody, Clerc said.

The incident occurred at the end of the seventh stage between Strasbourg and Colmar, a picturesque town near the German border.

French fans were celebrating on their national holiday, Bastille Day, when a man “not in control of his emotions” disrupted the finish, about 30 minutes after all the riders were finished racing, Clerc said.

Jalabert completed the 101-mile leg in 4 hours 6 minutes 4 seconds. Two-time defending champion Lance Armstrong was 4:28 behind but remained 15th overall. He retained a 27-second advantage over his main rival, Germany’s Jan Ullrich.

Germany’s Jens Voigt was second and France’s Laurent Roux third. Voigt, who rides for Credit Agricole, took the leader’s yellow jersey from teammate Stuart O’Grady of Australia.

This was Jalabert’s second stage victory of this year’s Tour. He also won a stage on Bastille Day in 1995.

The CSC-Tiscali rider suffered three broken ribs in February when he fell off a ladder while changing a light bulb at his home in Geneva. He was unable to ride for two months.

Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service team was reduced to eight men when Christian Vande Velde quit the race. He suffered a broken left forearm during Thursday’s team-time trial after crashing on a slippery downhill stretch in the Vosges mountains.

Vande Velde was scheduled to leave the hospital Saturday and spend the night in his team hotel in Kaysersberg, team spokeswoman Sophie Boulet said.

Vande Velde, riding in his second Tour de France, was 58th in the standings at the start of Saturday’s stage.

Twelve cyclists have quit the Tour in its first week, leaving 177 riders in the race.

Forty-four riders underwent random blood tests Saturday to detect possible drug use. The International Cycling Union said there were no failures.

Today’s stage is 138 miles, from Colmar to Pontarlier near the Swiss border. The 20-stage Tour ends July 29 in Paris.

Last year, a 12-year-old boy watching Tour de France cyclists died after he was hit by a publicity caravan, prompting organizers to strengthen road safety measures.

Tens of thousands of people line the route every day. Scores of accredited vehicles drive on the route, where access is tightly controlled. Metal barriers are set up at most intersections.

The chaos at the finish was similar to a scene after the 1998 World Cup final in Paris, when an apparently panicked driver surged into a group of jubilant soccer fans, killing one person and injuring about 80.

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Tour de France at a Glance

A look at Saturday’s seventh stage of the Tour de France:

* Stage--A 100.91-mile leg through the Vosges mountains in France’s eastern Alsace region near the border with Germany, starting in Strasbourg and ending in Colmar.

* Winner--France’s Laurent Jalabert, in 4 hours 6 minutes 4 seconds.

* How others fared--Two-time defending champion Lance Armstrong was 35th, finishing 4:28 behind Jalabert. Germany’s Jens Voigt finished second and took the leader’s yellow jersey.

* Quote of the day--”Don’t mess with Texas”--slogan on Armstrong fan’s T-shirt.

* Next stage--A 138.17-mile stretch from Colmar to Pontarlier near the Swiss border.