Spectator causes crash by running into road at Guatemalan stage race

The latest incident of race spectators endangering rider safety occurred on stage 2 of the Vuelta Bantrab in Guatemala, when a woman ran across the road and brought down a cyclist yards from the finish.

Daniel Méndez (NU Colombia) was gearing up for a sprint to the line with breakaway companion Jonathan Caicedo (Petrolike) when a woman rushed into the road.

Footage shows her colliding with Méndez and bringing down the Colombian rider, narrowly avoiding Caicedo, who continued unscathed and won the stage.

The crash occurred around 300m from the line in Totonicapan at the end of a 175km stage starting in San Lucas Sacatepequez, the second of the five-day race.

Méndez managed to get back on his bike and finished the stage in fifth, 37 seconds behind Caicedo, who also took the race lead. The woman who crashed into him is said to be unhurt. No explanation has been offered for why she ran into the road with riders approaching.

Speaking at the finish, the new yellow jersey offered a warning to spectators and demanded better race control from the Vuelta Bantrab directors.

"You can’t trust the final sprint when people cross each other. I call on the organisation to better regulate traffic the last three kilometres near the finish, and to all people, to give us the necessary space along the way. This is the only way to put on a good ‘show’ and finish in a safe way," Caicedo said, according to Belgian media.

The stage had already been marred by incidents involving pedestrians and some vehicles using roads despite them being officially closed for the race, forcing the peloton to briefly stop and wait for their path to be cleared.

Luckily Méndez did not appear badly hurt and continued the race, managing fourth place on Friday’s stage 3 in San Pedro San Marco, but the incident continues a worrying trend of reckless spectator behaviour endangering riders.

Most recently an unnamed Belgian woman sparked outrage when she threw a cap through Mathieu van der Poel’s spokes during his long solo to victory at Paris-Roubaix, while a woman wielding a placard was fined €1,200 by a French court for causing a pileup on stage 1 of the 2021 Tour de France.

The Vuelta Bantrab, part of the UCI America Tour, concludes with stage 5 arriving in Quetzaltenago on Sunday.