Tour de France: Dean crash-tackled by policeman at warm up

The first bizarre incident where Julian Dean was head butted by Mark Renshaw in the Tour De France. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand cyclist Julian Dean has another bizarre moment to record in his Tour de France diary.

During Wednesday's 16th stage in the Pyrenees, Dean was crash-tackled by a policeman while warming up on his bike.

In a case of mistaken identity, the policeman had thought Dean was an errant spectator and was brought to the ground while riding on the Col de Peyresourde, his Garmin-Transitions team director Matt White said.

Dean was nearly halfway up the 11km climb while warming up before the start of the stage when the policeman darted out from nowhere and took him to the ground in a full-blown tackle, White said. The tackle stunned Dean, and also injured the policeman, whose hand was cut.

The incident didn't end there, White said. As Dean got to his feet, the policeman tried to stop him from riding back down to the team bus.

White was astonished when Dean returned and told him: "We may have a problem."

Last week, Dean was at the centre of the sprint finish to Bourg-les-Valence in stage 11 that led to the disqualification of Australian rider Mark Renshaw.

Renshaw was disqualified for headbutting Dean and cutting off Garmin's star sprinter Tyler Farrar, who placed third behind Renshaw's HTC Columbia teammate, Mark Cavendish.

For Dean, it is another remarkable incident on the Tour.

In last year's race, he was one of two riders shot by someone in the crowd with an air-pellet gun. A week after the tour, surgeons discovered some of the pellet was still in his finger.

Dean has been a member of the "grupetto" (large group of sprinters who band together to help each other survive the mountain stages behind the main race) in the past week.

But the 198km 18th stage from Salies-de-Bearn beginning late last night was expected to finish in a bunch sprint at Bordeaux where the long, straight finish on the Quinconces quayside is ideal for a mass finish.

For Dean, racing in his sixth tour, it will be his last opportunity this year to try for an elusive stage victory while the overall contenders stay out of trouble and save energy for the following day's penultimate stage, a 52km time trial when the podium finishes are generally decided.

Dean, who usually has the leadout role in sprint finishes, scored a second placing in the fourth stage two weeks ago after replacing American Tyler Farrar who has dropped out of the tour with a broken wrist as his team's main sprinter.

He finished yesterday's 17th stage in 127th place, 28 minutes behind the stage winner Andy Schleck of Luxembourg and is 157th overall, almost four hours behind tour leader Alberton Contador of Spain.

- NZPA