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Police Pick up Paris-Roubaix Rider on the Highway

Of all the hard-luck ways to end a bike race, Italian sprinter Andrea Guardini might have found a new one.

Caitlin Giddings |
french-police-roubaix-rider

Of all the hard-luck ways to end a bike race, Italian sprinter Andrea Guardini might have found a new one. – By Caitlin Giddings

french-police-roubaix-rider

When Andrea Guardini crossed the start line of Sunday’s Paris Roubaix, the UAE team rider likely never imagined he would end the 257km classic in a police station—watching on a TV screen as Greg Van Avermaet took the win.Guardini dropped out of the race after the second feed station, with 68km to go, and tried to ride to meet his team at the finish. But the most direct route took the Italian sprinter onto the traffic-packed E23 motorway, where he was picked up by French authorities and brought back to the station in Villeneuve-d’Ascq.

A fan spotted him riding on the E23 and posted on Twitter that Guardini found the quickest way to Roubaix—the highway—so Guardini took to Facebook to explain his eventful day. Despite the outcome of his race, his emoji usage suggests he remained in fairly good spirits.

“Some videos and photos are starting to appear, so perhaps it better if I explain exactly what happened,” Guardini wrote on Facebook on Sunday night.“I quit the race and when I got to the team car at the second feed. They told me to cut across from the race and ride to the finish. I took their word and would have quickly made it to Roubaix if I hadn’t found myself on the highway!

 “Fortunately the Gendarmerie found me, loaded my bike in their car and took me to the local police station. I can only thank them for their help; they even let me watch the finish of the race with them. I was also able to contact my wife, who called the team so that a soigneur could come and collect me.”

“I’m sure the team will tease me about what happened for a long time but I want to make it clear that I wasn’t arrested, my criminal record is still intact and we even had a laugh about it,” he continued.

“Of course I was obliged to give the police a little present as a way of thanks and they now have my Paris-Roubaix race jersey.”

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