A Tour de France cyclist ended up with a broken neck after colliding with a fan and then landing on cobblestones as part of a horrific incident during the world-famous event.
Daniel Oss was riding through stage five at a high speed when he bumped into the spectator that entered his path while filming the action on his mobile phone.
The fan was knocked to the ground by the force of the impact with Oss, who was thrown off his bike into a fellow competitor, Michael Gogl, also launched onto the cobblestones.
Oss somehow managed to finish the stage comprising of 11 sections on the dangerous cobblestone surface.
Yet scans performed later showed that the Italian suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck.
This information was made public by Oss' team TotalEnergies, which tweeted: "Additional examinations revealed a fracture of a cervical vertebra requiring immobilization for a few weeks."
"Daniel Oss is therefore forced to leave the Tour de France. The whole team wishes you a good recovery Daniel," it added.
As for Gogl, he sustained a broken collarbone and pelvis. But a third rider was so badly hurt that he wasn't able to take part in the action the next day.
Reacting to the crash, cycling legend Bradley Wiggins questioned why a cobbled stage should be included in the Tour de France.
"As much of a spectacle as the cobbled stages are to the viewers and to us, we see the carnage it causes and we see the damage it does to people who prepare for this race all year long," the Olympic gold medalist noted to Eurosport.
"And I ask the question: is it a necessity to have one stage like this in the first week with everything else that we have that is so specific and so much for a specialist that, I mean yes, we could argue that Tadej [Pogacar] comes through it and the best all-around riders come through it, but there is a lot of luck involved isn’t there?" he added.
The Tour de France is currently being led by Pogacar, who holds the yellow jersey after six stages.