NZ rider shot in France

Kiwi Tour de France rider Julian Dean thought he'd been hit by a stone flicking up from his wheel when he was shot with a BB gun on Friday.

Dean and Spain's Oscar Freire were shot at with airguns during the 13th stage of the race from Vittel to Colmar.

"I didn't really see anything at the time, I didn't really know what happened," he told Newstalk ZB. "I was just riding along and I thought I'd been hit by a stone flicking up from a tyre or something.

"As it turns out one of the other riders had been hit as well and ... had a BB pellet lodged in his leg."

Dean said the pellet hit the tip of his finger and split the end of it "a little bit".

"But it's okay, it's not a drama. It's nothing really, it didn't bother me at all. Compared to the crashes we have it was actually pretty light really."

Race organisers have asked police to investigate the shootings but Dean was "amazed" something similar hadn't happened before.

"Something like the Tour de France ... you can't control the crowds very much. I guess it's quite susceptible to something like this happening."

At the end of Friday's stage Dean was 121 out of 164 riders.