Maeve Plouffe: Rider 'nearly hit' by car on day one of Tour of Britain Women
Australian rider Maeve Plouffe says she narrowly avoided being hit by a car in Cumbria during the first stage of the Tour Of Britain Women.
The Netherlands' Lorena Wiebes retained the leader's green jersey with victory on stage two in Lancashire.
Plouffe, 27, who rides for British continental team O'Shea Red Chilli Bikes, said the incident happened on a roundabout as she was chasing back to the peloton, following a puncture on Wednesday.
She was taking part in the opening stage, which began and ended in Cockermouth.
Posting on Instagram, she wrote: "While the race convoy was still in sight, and I was less than two minutes down, there were cars from the general public coming at me from all directions, including one that nearly hit me on a roundabout.
"Later on, the moto escort was wonderful and I felt much safer. But considering the recent devastating events in our cycling community, it's scary to see situations like this, when we know that this can have horrific consequences, especially so soon after suffering such a tragedy."
Plouffe was referring to the death of 19-year-old British rider Fin Tarling, who was killed last week in a high-speed collision with a van, which had strayed on to the road during the eighth stage of the Volta a Portugal.
Before the Tour of Britain Women began, there was a tribute to Tarling with a photograph of him projected on to a large screen and a minute's applause which all 114 riders and spectators took part in.
Tarling was the younger brother of Netcompany Inoes rider Josh Tarling, who was announced on Thursday in the team's line-up for the Vuelta a Espana three-week Grand Tour, which begins on Saturday.
Reacting to Plouffe's social media post, Jonathan Day, the events director of British Cycling Ventures - a commercial entity of British Cycling, which organises the Tour of Britain Women - issued a statement to the BBC.
In it, Day said: "We note Maeve Plouffe's comments about her experience during yesterday's race, and we're taking these extremely seriously.
"Rider safety is paramount and will always be treated as a priority in our planning and how we operate any race.
"We're reviewing what happened with Maeve and her team O'Shea Red Chilli Bikes with the seriousness and empathy these comments demand.
"We recognise this comes at an especially difficult time for the cycling community, so we want to reassure all riders, teams and fans of the sport at this time of how serious we are treating these comments."
In wet conditions during stage two's 110.5km race from Clitheroe to Blackpool, the peloton was forced to divert after lorries blocked the course, before the stage was temporarily stopped because of a road accident which required emergency service vehicles to pass by.
The stage featured more than 1,000 metres of climbing early on, and there were plenty of attacks across the day before and a crash in the latter stages involving Britons Anna Morris, Katie Scott and Australia's Georgia Baker.
All three riders managed to get back on their bikes.
Wiebes was in a league of her own, launching her sprint with 250 metres to go and finishing several lengths ahead of Canada's Maggie Coles-Lyster of hHuman Powered Health and Mauritious' Kim Le Court of AG Insurance-Soudal.
Wiebes retains the overall general classification lead by 14 seconds over Italy's Chiara Consonni of Canyon-Sram.
Sprinters are protected by a line of team domestiques riding in front of them at speed.
Not only does it save energy for the sprinter who does not travel into the wind, it also ensures a good road position compared to their rivals and prevents anyone blocking them just as they are about to launch.
But launch timing in sprinting is everything, and even a lead-out train can get things wrong.
If they delay or go too early, the domestiques can get in the way of their own rider, or a rival can use the train to launch themselves to the line.