Tour de France Rider Knocked off Bike by Driver Who Then Blamed Him for It on Instagram

There can’t be much worse for a Tour de France rider than having a driver knock you off the bike after a stage.

Oh wait, maybe there is.

Xandro Meurisse was rear-ended after the stage 16 time trial on Tuesday only to have the motorist later track him down on Instagram and slide into his DMs to blame him for it.

The Belgian veteran told Sporza on Wednesday that at least one side of the story was able to laugh it all off.

“Both passengers thought it was quite funny when they were standing there [after the collision],” Meurisse said as he recounted the incident.

“The driver even messaged me on Instagram afterward saying it was my fault. They had that kind of nerve,” Meurisse said. “That says a lot about who those people are.”

Meurisse banged up, bike broken, DMs invaded

Meurisse was hit from behind as he pedaled toward his team bus after he suffered through his TT effort on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old told Sporza he caught a glimpse of a car zooming toward him before he was shunted hard from behind.

“At first I didn’t quite realize what had happened. But then I saw the sealant spilling from my tire on the car,” Meurisse said. “So, I was hit full on from behind.

“I tried to stay as calm as possible, because [anger] doesn’t solve anything anyway, but this could have ended much worse,” he added.

Images on the “Xandro Meurisse Fanclub” Facebook account and Meurisse’s own Instagram stories revealed the extent of the damage later that night.

His Q36.5 Pro Cycling jersey was shredded, and his knees were bloodied.

Cyclingnews also reported his bike was “completely broken.”

Fortunately, Meurisse didn’t sustain any injuries so significant that he couldn’t keep racing toward Paris.

“It’s mainly a lot of scrapes, and I was also really shaken up,” Meurisse said Wednesday. “In a race, you sometimes see it coming, but I’ve never experienced anything like this before.

“This hurts really badly.”

Two suspected road rage cases in one day at the Tour de France

Meurisse wasn’t the only victim of an ugly incident with a driver Tuesday.

Tadej Pogačar’s U.S. teammate Brandon McNulty was brake-checked by a driver before Tuesday’s stage.

McNulty’s UAE Emirates-XRG manager Mauro Gianetti told Eurosport he suspected it was an intentional maneuver.

“He was just coming to the start with the bike. A car was a little bit upset behind him – we don’t know why,” Gianetti said Tuesday. “Then he overtook Brandon, and then stopped the car. So of course Brandon crashed into the car”

Meurisse is still racing on as the Tour de France reaches its climax in the Alps.

However, McNulty was forced to quit the race on stage 18 Thursday after he picked up the sickness that’s rattling around in his team.

There’s no news whether the drivers – or maybe driver – has been identified by local authorities.